Mali, compared to many African countries is relatively under explored with regard to base metals. There are a number of world class gold projects and mining operations but the potential for non precious metals has yet to be fully exploited. South Mali is known to have significant occurrences of bauxite, a raw material most widely used in the production of aluminium on a commercial scale. The geology in Mali is thought to be an extension of the Guinean geology, whose combined bauxite resource is among the largest in the world. Whilst Guinea has benefited from its location on the Atlantic Coast, to develop its resources to the extent that it is the world's second largest producer (17 million tonnes per year of bauxite) after Australia., which supports some of the largest known bauxite deposits in the world.
In Mali CAMEC has a Joint Venture Agreement with Mali Mining House (‘MMH’) for the exploration and development of licence areas covering a total of 4,000 km2. These have been divided into three project areas: the 300 km2 Falea Project in south west Mali on the Senegal and Guinea border; the 2,500 km2 Bamako West Project; and the 1,200 km2 Sikasso North Project. At Sikasso, a sampling and mapping programme is underway, which is scheduled to finish in December 2006. Early indications are that we have a new discovery of a 100 km2 plateau estimated to host in the region of three billion tonnes bauxite ore.
Under the agreement, CAMEC and MMH established an 80%-20% Joint Venture company which assumed ownership of the licences issued by the Malian Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water. CAMEC is providing the technical and financial resources required to progress the various projects, while MMH, a company established by members of the Malian Union Nationale des Opêrateurs Miniers ('UNOMIN'), a collective of Malian title-holders, will assume a 20% free-carried stake.
In Mali, whilst previous exploration and geological work has identified considerable tonnage of +40% Al2O3 with relatively low silica, infrastructure in the region has heavily constrained development. However, the possibility of new regional infrastructural initiatives may improve Mali's ability to encourage the development of its aluminium industry with demand for aluminium having increased by 13% per annum in recent years.
