Mayur Resources has just released its annual report, providing an update on its diverse portfolio of mining and energy projects in Papua New Guinea, including the Central Cement and Limestone project.

Drilling at Lae’s Central Cement and Lime Project. Credit: Mayur Resources

The ASX-listed company’s annual report, released last week, says that the company is in the process of raising US$350 million (K1.23 billion) in project finance for its verticially-integrated Central Cement and Limestone (CCL) project, located 25 kilometres north of Port Moresby.

The report claims the facility ‘has the potential to meet 100 per cent of PNG’s cement, clinker and quicklime requirements, displacing Asian imports’.

According to Mayur’s latest quarterly report, structural shifts in Australia’s lime industry provide a significant export market opportunity for the venture.

‘Industries that require lime as a key input such as the gold and nickel mining sectors are growing rapidly which will further drive demand for lime.’

‘The CCL project, if it meets its milestones, will be commissioned in the first quarter of 2022. It is projected to create earnings before interest and tax of US$96 million (K337 million) per annum.’

A Mayur company presentation points to ‘Australia’s structural shift from producer to net importer, noting that the Mayur project will be the ‘closest kiln with sea freight and lead in time advantage to contest Australia’s largest cement and clinker market and the southern Pacific.’ The presentation says that the Mayur project will have an $8-30/tonne advantage on the cost of freight.

‘[It is] significantly closer to users in Australia and the South Pacific than other seaborne supply, [which equates with] a lower shipping cost and carbon footprint due to shorter sailing times.’

According to the presentation, the CCL project, if it meets its milestones, will be commissioned in the first quarter of 2022. It is projected to create earnings before interest and tax of US$96 million (K337 million) per annum.

Industrial sands

Location of the project in EL2303. Credit: Mayur Resources

Mayur Resources has a diversified portfolio in PNG, covering not only the CCL project but prospective mining projects for industrial sands, vanadium, titanium, iron and coal, as well as energy.

It has completed the design of a pilot plant for its Orokolo Bay Industrial Sands project. A feasibility study for the project points to a post-tax Net Present Value of US$131 million (K460 million) and an internal rate of return of 103.7 per cent. The company has increased its estimate of the resource by 40 per cent: from 172.7 to 243 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, its Amazon Bay Project in Central Province is targeted at vanadium, titanium and iron reserves. The annual report describes this as an ‘advanced exploration project’ but noting that previous exploration focused on the magnetite resource ‘without fully pursuing its titanium and significant vanadium potential.’

More controversially, perhaps, the company has a proposed 52.5-megawatt electrical engineering portal (EEP) project for Lae that is planned to combine solar, biomass woodchip, and coal. The biomass component is intended to account for half of the output, reducing the requirement for coal, according to the annual report.

The company also has a prospective coal tenement portfolio in Gulf Province, with the focus on the resource at Depot Creek. Its annual report says the company has conducted a shallow drill program, increasing the reserve to 12.8 million tonnes.

‘This now bolsters the pathway for fuel supply to our Central Cement and Limestone Project and Enviro Energy Park (EEP) Power Project, whilst additional outcropping coal at surface in the wider Depot Creek region have been independently assessed as offering a 100 million tonne future coal exploration target.’

The report also confirmed the company’s announcement in September that its copper and gold portfolio would be put into a separate vehicle on Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V).