Subsidy for niobium concentrates

The subsidy, issued by the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, would also apply to other commodities such as tantalum and titanium, said Globe.
A representative of the China Nonferrous Metal Industry Association was quoted as saying that the Chinese Government would use its foreign exchange reserves to subsidise these importers by charging them less when they exchange renminbi into other currencies, or to buy nonferrous mineral products on overseas markets.
At present, while China consumes between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of all ferroniobium produced, a negligible amount is produced domestically.
Globe has recently reported that multi-disciplinary engineering firm Thuthuka Group had agreed to enter into formal joint venture agreement to invest around $10.6 million into the Kanyika niobium project, to earn a 25 per cent interest in the project. The $10.6 million by Thuthuka would fund around 85 per cent of the estimated cost of the bankable feasibility study (BFS) into the project, which started immediately.
The company also reported on September 24th that it had completed a $5.2 million capital raising through a placement to professional and sophisticated investors in Australia, Asia and Europe.
The funds will be utilised in the BFS into the Kanyika project, and also as working capital.
The placement was for 20 million shares at $0.26 per share and Helmsec Global Capital Limited acted as the Lead Manager for the placement. Globe’s cash position on completion of the placement is ~A$6.7 million.
Globe’s managing director, Mark Sumich, said, “the quality of the institutional investors joining our share register in this share placement is testament to the quality of our team’s work to date on the Kanyika Niobium Project in Malawi. With the funding for the BFS and Globe’s planned activities for 2010 secured, Globe is continuing down the track of becoming the world’s 4th major supplier of ferro-niobium.”
Production is planned to commence in 2012 at a rate of 3,000tpa niobium metal, principally in the form of ferroniobium. Mine life will be in excess of 20 years.
At Kanyika a 5,000m RC infill drill program has commenced, targeting measured and additional indicated resources, which will convert to proven and probable reserves respectively. A multi-purpose drill rig has completed more than 1,700m of RC drilling and first results are expected within six to eight weeks.
A further 1,000m of diamond drilling is planned, primarily for geotechnical purposes. This will begin immediately on completion of the RC infill program.
Planning for further metallurgical optimisation work and for a large scale pilot plant is well underway. The pilot plant will be designed to process approximately 750 tonnes of run of mine material. Suitable locations in South Africa for the three components of the pilot plant – gravity/flotation, acid leach and smelting – are currently being assessed.
Globe has a number of uranium and other projects in Malawi, which it manages from its regional exploration office in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. The Company has been listed on the ASX since December 2005 and has its corporate head office in Perth.