Bagla Hills Iron Ore Project

In April 2011 Sable Mining acquired an 80% interest in Red Rock Mining (SL) Limited, a Sierra Leone company which holds a 50 year lease over 206.75 sq km covering the Bagla Hills, Tonkia Kingdom iron ore deposit (‘Bagla Hills’) in south-east Sierra Leone near the Liberian border where banded iron formation horizons have previously been identified. 

Bagla Hills is about 52km SSE of Kenema, south-east Sierra Leone, forming a continuation of long-known Western Cluster iron-ore deposits across the border with Liberia, represented by Mano River, Bomi Hills and Bea Mountain.

Historic reconnaissance geological survey mapping and pitting discovered NE-SW trending iron formation horizons.  Between 1973 and 1975 Bethlehem Steel Mining Company (‘Bethlehem’) carried out geological mapping, a ground magnetic survey and drilling and sampling, applying rigorous logging and sampling protocols, to outline iron resources for pellet production.  6,600m of drilling in 29 holes was completed at a spacing of 200 to 300m along a strike length of 1.5 to 2.5 km and over widths of 100 to 500m, probing to about 200m depth from surface.  Geological mapping and structural interpretation by Bethlehem indicates that the foliation in the rocks, which occur as two prominent ridges, is steeply dipping and that the East and West ridges may be part of a synclinal fold opening up a possibility for large tonnages of iron ore being present at depth along the keel of the fold.  

Analyses of major elements and oxides were coupled with Davis Tube analyses to determine the contents of magnetic iron.  Rock-density measurements were also carried out on core.  Applying a cut-off grade of 22% Fe and a mean rock density of 3.55, a subsequent resource estimate, applying Gemcom geological modelling software on the analytical results in 2007, gave 838Mt of iron formation grading 32% Fe and 22% magnetic iron (‘MagFe’).

Using Whittle® pit optimisation software, conceptual pit outlines were developed indicating that at no cut-off grade, within the optimised pit shells, the mineral inventory was 776Mt of iron formation at a grade of 32.2% Fe and 22.0% MagFe, with 1,205Mt of waste material (339 M m3), giving a stripping ratio of 1.55 t:t or 0.44 m3:t. Taking into account data derived from testwork by Bethlehem on surface and core bulk samples, 289Mt of pellets might be produced at an assumed grade of 65% Fe.

Bagla Hills is 80 km from the coast and only 12 km from a disused railhead at Kongo in Liberia giving two possible transport routes for product to reach a port, added to the possibility of slurry pipeline transport if output tonnages justify that route.  Kongo is at the abandoned Mano River iron mine, one of the three prolific Liberian Western Cluster iron-ore deposits, which are the object of current re-opening negotiations.  The iron-ore deposit at Bagla Hills, as presently known, lies within a forest reserve, but the Board believe that processing facilities and accommodation outside the reserve limits can be built thereby minimising the impact on the reserve.