Yemen, British ZincOx Resources to sign agreement of start works on Yemeni Jabali zinc deposit, located 110 km northeast of the capital Sana'a, in early 2007, Ismail al-Janad, head of the Yemen Geological Survey and Mineral Resources Board, was quoted as saying on August 10, 2006.
Yemen's Government has already approved the contract signed at end-October 2005 between ZincOx and the country's Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources for exploitation of the Jabali deposit. ZincOx is expected to complete the final designs for the Jabali zinc oxide plant by end-2006, al-Janad added. Total investments in the project are estimated at some $75 mln (58.6 mln euro).
The Jabali zinc deposit reportedly contains 12.6 million tonnes of oxide ore with a zinc grade of 8.9 pct. The resource is calculated in accordance with the code of the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC code), which is widely accepted as a standard for professional reporting purposes.
ZincOx presently holds 60 pct in a joint-venture, which owns a Mineral Exploration Licence over the Jabali deposit. The other parties in the joint venture are the UK mining and natural resources company Anglo American Plc and Yemen's Ansan Wikfs (Hadramaut) Ltd, with 20 pct each. The Jabali zinc plant is planned to produce some 70,000 tonnes of high-grade zinc oxide per year.
By Observer Staff
© Yemen Observer 2006
