Bauxite Resources granted additional licenses

  Recently-listed Australian bauxite explorer, Bauxite Resources is set to expand its exploration focus, after the granting of two additional Exploration Licences at the company’s Muchea Project, and the application for an additional four exploration licenses in the Darling Ranges of Western Australia.The two additional granted tenements bring Bauxite’s total granted ground holding at the Muchea Project to 499sqkm.Bauxite Resources Chairman, Luke Atkins said the granting of the two tenements and the four additional license applications represented the first phase in a planned expansion of the company’s ground position in the Darling Ranges.“Bauxite Resources now has three granted Exploration Licences at the Muchea Project and has an additional 26 licences currently under application,” Mr Atkins said. “The company’s aim is to build a significant exploration portfolio in this highly prospective region, with a view to developing a sustainable bauxite/alumina industry to tap into the increased demand associated with China’s development,” he said.Feasibility work previously completed at the Muchea Project in the 1960s and 1970s included extensive and high-quality drilling programs, metallurgical testwork, resource estimations, and plant feasibility, which in today’s terms would be in the vicinity of $50m. The Muchea Project covers ground that extends beyond these previously explored areas, which are reported to contain bauxitic laterite.