We recently acquired and are developing the Madekali & Loumbou-Loumbou Iron Ore Deposits in the Republic of Benin.

Loumbou-Loumbou

Location: 2°53’E, 12°17’ N Some historic preliminary pitting and drilling has been recorded for the characterization of this area.

The mineralization is a banded iron formation characterized by eolithic goethite embedded in a fine grained sandstone iron bearing band. This unit is about 2 to 4 m thick and located near or at the base of the 10 m thick sandstone-conglomerate belonging to the horizontal, Eocene, Continental Terminal formation.

The top of this unit is affected by lateralization over a couple of meters. The general trend appears to be southeast with a gentle dip to the southwest.

Madécali

Location : 3°30’E, 11°40’N The geological and mineralization characteristics of this area is essentially similar to the Loumbou-Loumbou area, the major differences are, that the iron formation reside on the top of the unit under a metric laterite. The mineralized area appears to be smaller but the grade variability larger.

Reserve Estimation

Various works have established that the total reserve of iron ore known in the Loumbou-Loumbou area consist of a mineralized layer at a depth of 2 to 4 meters under a sterile laterite overburden of 6 to 9 meters and are estimated in excess of 300 million tonnes.

Research works were conducted in Madekali sector by L. Lessard, P. Dion, etc., (H.CRUYS 1966 end of the mission report) and later on in 1974 by E. Thoens. Such works have confirmed the previous analyses made on the ore and estimated reserves are about 240 million tons.

The iron ore reserves estimated for both Loumbou-Loumbou and Madekali sectors are in excess of 600 million tons, and the iron reported from different assays were all in excess of 50 % soluble Fe.