Feldspar Portsite Allocation

 

TIDMGIP 
 
RNS Number : 5759L 
Gippsland Limited 
14 January 2009 
 

 
 
14 January 2009 
 
 
Gippsland Limited ("Gippsland" or "the Company") 
 
 
 
 
FELDSPAR PORTSITE ALLOCATION 
 
 
Egyptian National Centre for Planning and Usage of State Land has permitted the 
use of the Port Turumbi portsite for the Abu Dabbab project 
 
 
 
 
On 20 November the Directors of Gippsland Limited [ASX, AIM: GIP, Deutsche 
Börse: GIX] announced that the Company's joint venture vehicle Tantalum Egypt 
JSC had made application to acquire the Port Turumbi portsite for the export of 
approximately 1.5 million tonnes per year of ceramic grade feldspar produced as 
a by-product from the 44.5 million tonne Abu Dabbab tantalum-tin project. The 
application was supported by the office of His Excellency Eng Samey Fahmy, 
Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources. 
 
 
The Directors announce today that the Egyptian National Centre for Planning and 
Usage of State Land has approved the use of the Port Turumbi portsite for the 
Abu Dabbab project. 
 
 
The Egyptian National Centre for Planning and Usage of State Land, the principal 
Egyptian Authority that answers directly to His Excellency Prime Minister Dr 
Ahmed Nazif, has issued instructions for the land covered by the application to 
be released to the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, which is part of the 
Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. Following the transfer, it is 
anticipated that the portsite will be allocated to Tantalum Egypt JSC. Terms of 
the transfer are presently being negotiated however, the parties involved 
recognise that the allocation will be based upon a long-term peppercorn lease 
arrangement. 
 
 
The 44.5 million tonne Abu Dabbab project is scheduled to produce in excess of 
650,000 pounds of tantalum pentoxide per year over a projected mine life of 20 
years. The project, which will also produce approximately 1,530 tonnes of LME 
grade tin per year, is likely to become the world's largest supplier of tantalum 
feedstock. 
 
 
Gravity separation techniques will be employed to extract the tantalum and tin 
from the Abu Dabbab mineralisation. Testwork commissioned by Gippsland in 
Australia and Italy has demonstrated that the resulting waste (or tailings) can 
be utilised to produce up to 1.5 million tonnes per year of premium grade 
feldspar suitable for the manufacture of ceramic tiles and sanitary wear. The 
production of feldspar will result in the Abu Dabbab project having a waste 
stream consisting of only 20% of all ore mined.At full production, the net 
revenue from feldspar is expected to exceed U$20 million dollars per year. 
 
 
Gippsland Executive Chairman said today: "The support for the project being 
provided by the highest levels of the Egyptian Government is most encouraging 
and bodes well for the successful implementation of the Abu Dabbab project which 
we are confident will become the prime focus of global tantalum production.  We 
are also pleased by the attention being paid to the project by the KfW 
Bankengruppe, which is owned by the German Government and the 
German Federal States. This is of particular relevance when one considers 
that Egypt is a major recipient of German foreign aid. 
 
 
Following the recently announced closure of Wodgina, which was the world's 
largest tantalum mine, Abu Dabbab is set to fill the expected void in the supply 
of this strategic metal. The project's resource base is unrivalled and capable 
of supplying a major portion of the world's tantalum requirement for several 
decades", said Mr Telford. 
 
 
RJ (Jack) Telford 
Executive Chairman 
Gippsland Limited 
www.gippslandltd.com 
 
 
For further information, please contact: 
 
 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
| Jack Telford                            | Ed Portman                             | 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
| Gippsland Limited                       | Investor Relations                     | 
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| T: [phone]                      | M: [phone]                    | 
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| E: [e-mail]            | E: [e-mail]                    | 
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|                                         |                                        | 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
| Oliver Stansfield                       | Daniel Fox-Davies                      | 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
| Fox-Davies Capital Limited              | Fox-Davies Capital Limited             | 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
| T: [phone]                     | T: [phone]                    | 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
| E: [e-mail]          | E: [e-mail]               | 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
|                                         |                                        | 
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| Nandita Sahgal                          |                                        | 
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| Seymour Pierce Limited                  |                                        | 
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| T: [phone]                     |                                        | 
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ 
| E: [e-mail]      |                                        | 
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This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
   END 
 
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