Go Nuke
It may be that .002 is overpriced. Perhaps the person who submitted the buy bid is a fool, but surely there cannot be much more downside at .002. I'm still hopeful that we will get a ride on the coat tails of Bannerman and the other reputable Namibian explorers, so I'm still buying. Could be the worst decision I've ever made but we will see before the end of this year, maybe.
Not sure on the mineral sands value, Consolidated Rutile and Ikuka are two of the bigger ones on ASX but nothing great in either share price.
From Wikipedia:
"The grade of a typical heavy mineral sand ore deposit is usually low. Within the 21st century, the lowest cut-off grades of heavy minerals, as a total heavy mineral (THM) concentrate from the bulk sand, in most ore deposits of this type is around 1% heavy minerals, although several are higher grade.
Of this total heavy mineral concentrate (THM), the components are typically
Zircon, from 1% of THM to upwards of 50% of THM,
Ilmenite, generally of 10% to 60% of THM
Rutile, from 5% to 25% of THM
Leucoxene, from 1% to 10% of THM
Trash minerals, typically magnetite, garnet and chromite which usually account for the remaining bulk of the THM content
Slimes, typically minerals as above and heavy clay minerals, too fine to be economically extracted.
Generally, as zircon is the most valuable component and a critical ore component, high-zircon sands are the most valuable. Thereafter, rutile, leucoxene and then ilmenite in terms of value given to the ore. As a generality, typically the valuable components of the THM concentrate rarely exceed 30%."
and also in Wikipedia
"The coast of Namibia is host to economic diamondiferrous beach sands, which are exploited by building sea walls and isolating stretches of coastline. The beaches are so isolated that they are sometimes processed in their entirety, down to the bedrock, in search of diamonds. Such deposits have been sought around the world, with sporadic reports of high-value stones but no instances of economic quantities of sediment."
From the Erongo ann this week:
A table was posted of the samples of Total Heavy Minerals (THM). It doesn't paste too well but the highest percentages are with Ilmenite which is the 4th most valuable mineral sand, there are reasonable percentages of Grade 3 which is more ilmenite and also Leucoxene which is the third most valuable. There are low values of magnetite which is "trash" but also low values of zircon which is the cream of the crop, and rutile. Zircon can account from anywhere from 1% to 60% per Wikipedia.
Notes - Detailed analysis of the mineral components and composition of the samples
taken is currently in progress and is expected to be completed by late January. The
following preliminary information is available in respect of the categories:
• Grade 1 Magnetics – This component is comprised of mostly magnetite.
• Crude Ilmenite – This component is predominantly comprised of ilmenite, but
preliminary results indicate the samples include small amounts of other
unidentified materials.
• Grade 3 Magnetics – Component minerals are currently being determined. This
category may include weathered ilmenites, iron rich garnets, leucoxene and
pseudo rutiles and ilmenites.
• Other Non Magnetics – This component is comprised of zircon, rutile and
possibly monazite. There appears to be nominal levels of garnet.
It is too early to see if these deposits are worth anything or not, will have to wait for the appraisal report due late January. But Wikipedia states that most deposits have only 1% THM whereas the ERN samples go from 2% to 12% so they may be quite rich deposits.
Good luck to all long suffering holders. Picked up quite a few oppies yesterday at 4c, which will help offset those i bought at 79c. I think its called "averaging down", but also referred to as throwing good money after bad.