BASE RESOURCES LIMITED - FY24 Production Guidance – Kwale Operations

AIM and Media Release 

26 June 2023

BASE RESOURCES LIMITED
FY24 Production Guidance – Kwale Operations

African mineral sands producer, Base Resources Limited (ASX & AIM: BSE) (Base Resources or the Company) provides production guidance for the 2024 financial year (FY24) for its Kwale Operations in Kwale County, Kenya.

The FY24 production guidance is set out in the table below, with the Company’s 2023 financial year (FY23) production guidance shown alongside for comparison purposes.  The FY23 production guidance remains unchanged from that last reported.

The FY24 guidance reflects the planned continuation of the concurrent mining of the South Dune and the P199 and P200 pits on the North Dune, which began in February 2023, until the South Dune is fully depleted.  This is expected to occur in March 2024, at which point, the South Dune mining operation will transition to the Bumamani orebody, with mining at the North Dune continuing uninterrupted – refer to the map included in the full PDF version of this release, available from the Company’s website (https://baseresources.com.au/investors/announcements/), for the location of mining operations during FY24.    

The FY24 production guidance is lower than the FY23 guidance due to:

• Lower heavy mineral grades – the remaining sections of the South Dune and the areas of the North Dune and Bumamani ore bodies proposed to be mined are estimated to have lower heavy mineral (HM) grades than the grades historically mined at Kwale Operations.
• Lower tonnes mined – since commencement of mining at the North Dune in February 2023 and as disclosed in the March 2023 Quarterly Activities Report¹, mining rates have been lower than expected in the lower ore zones due to elevated oversize and slimes.  While some improvements in mining rates have been achieved, mining rates are still anticipated to be lower than FY23.
• Mining availability – a shutdown of half the mining operation is anticipated to occur in March 2024 for the relocation of the South Dune hydraulic mining units and slurry collection hopper to the Bumamani orebody.
• New orebody – the normal uncertainties associated with mining a new orebody (Bumamani) have been factored into the FY24 guidance.

PRODUCTION GUIDANCE (tonnes)	FY23 Guidance Range	FY24 Guidance Range
Rutile	62,000 to 73,000	35,000 to 41,000
Ilmenite	260,000 to 310,000	130,000 to 160,000
Zircon	22,000 to 27,000	13,000 to 16,000

The FY24 production guidance is based on the following assumptions:

• Mining of 14.1Mt at an average HM grade of 2.23%.
• Heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) produced by the wet concentrator plant of 311kt.
• HMC fed into the mineral separation plant (MSP) of 297kt.
• MSP product recoveries of 101% for rutile, 101.5% for ilmenite and 84.5% for zircon.

[Note (1): Refer to Base Resources’ announcement on 26 April 2023, “Quarterly Activities Report – March 2023”.]

Forward looking statements

Certain statements in or in connection with this release contain or comprise forward looking statements.  Such statements may include, but are not limited to, statements with regard to future production and grades, capital cost, capacity, sales projections and financial performance and may be (but are not necessarily) identified by the use of phrases such as “will”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “believe” and “envisage”.  By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and may be outside Base Resources’ control.  Accordingly, results could differ materially from those set out in the forward-looking statements as a result of, among other factors, changes in economic and market conditions, success of business and operating initiatives, changes in the regulatory environment and other government actions, fluctuations in product prices and exchange rates and business and operational risk management.  Subject to any continuing obligations under applicable law or relevant stock exchange listing rules, Base Resources undertakes no obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after today's date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

ENDS.

For further information contact:

Australian Media Relations	UK Media Relations
Citadel Magnus	Tavistock Communications
Cameron Gilenko and Michael Weir	Jos Simson and Gareth Tredway
Tel: +61 8 6160 4900	Tel: +44 207 920 3150

About Base Resources

Base Resources is an Australian based, African focused, mineral sands producer and developer with a track record of project delivery and operational performance.  The Company operates the established Kwale Operations in Kenya, is developing the Toliara Project in Madagascar and is conducting exploration in Tanzania.  Base Resources is an ASX and AIM listed company.  Further details about Base Resources are available at www.baseresources.com.au.

PRINCIPAL & REGISTERED OFFICE
Level 3, 46 Colin Street
West Perth, Western Australia, 6005
Email:  info@baseresources.com.au
Phone: +61 8 9413 7400
Fax: +61 8 9322 8912

NOMINATED ADVISER & JOINT BROKER
Canaccord Genuity Limited
James Asensio / Raj Khatri / Patrick Dolaghan
Phone: +44 20 7523 8000

JOINT BROKER
Berenberg
Matthew Armitt / Detlir Elezi
Phone: +44 20 3207 7800