BCI Minerals Limited (ASX: BCI) ('BCI' or the 'Company') is pleased to report the Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves for Iron Valley as at 30 June 2020.

Iron Valley is 100% owned by BCI and is being operated by Mineral Resources Limited ('MRL') under a royalty-type agreement. MRL operates the mine at its cost and purchases Iron Valley product from BCI at a price linked to MRL's realised sale price.

Iron Valley's Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves have not materially changed since last reported as at 30 June 2019. Mineral Resources are 182.0Mt as at 30 June 2020, a decrease of 7.9Mt comprising 6.1Mt from mining depletion and 1.8Mt from stockpile drawdowns.

Ore Reserves are 82.3Mt as at 30 June 2020, a decrease of 6.7Mt comprising 6.1Mt from production shipments and 0.6Mt from stockpile adjustments. Further commentary on the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates are provided below with the Competent Person's Statements.

Mineral Resource Commentary

The Mineral Resource estimate factors in drilling and sampling completed by both MRL and a whollyowned subsidiary of BCI. The Mineral Resource estimate is based on the 05 December 2017 Iron Valley Mineral Resource estimate and is reported taking account for mining depletion and stockpile adjustments as at 30 June 2020.

Mineralisation within the Iron Valley deposit occurs as outcropping and buried Banded Iron Deposit ('BID') and Detrital mineralisation ('DID'). BID mineralisation is hosted predominantly in the Joffre Member of the Brockman Iron Formation. Incised into this bedrock geology are deposits of DID mineralisation.

Drilling comprises reverse circulation ('RC') and diamond core holes. RC holes of approximately 140mm in diameter were completed using a standard face sampling hammer. HQ sized diamond holes were drilled as diamond tails after RC holes and PQ sized diamond holes were drilled as twins to RC holes. Drill holes were both vertical and inclined to be sub-perpendicular to the local strike and dip of the mineralisation.

BCI RC cuttings were taken at 1m and 2m intervals, with the 2m intervals being the predominant interval size. Samples were generated by sending dry drill cuttings through a cone splitter. Where the drill cuttings were wet and interpreted to be mineralised, these cuttings were left to dry in poly weave bags prior to being passed through a riffle 3 tier splitting process to generate dry samples. Wet un-mineralised samples were generated by either taking a grab sample from the drill cuttings or following the wet mineralised cuttings procedure. MRL RC samples were taken at 2m intervals, with all samples generated using a cone splitter. BCI and MRL samples were sent to laboratories in Perth Australia where they were dried and prepared for XRF and TGA analysis.

Diamond core samples were taken at 1m, 2m, and 4m intervals, with 2m intervals being the predominant size for both. Complete core was sent to the laboratory for further preparation and XRF and TGA analysis or physical geo-metallurgical test work.

Geological interpretation was completed based on surface mapping, downhole geological logging, geophysics and geochemistry of RC and diamond core samples. Fe grade and key deleterious elements were estimated using ordinary kriging interpolation, while minor deleterious elements were estimated using inverse distance squared interpolation. A cut-off grade of 50% Fe was utilised.

Drilling was conducted on a 100m by 100m spacing (Indicated and Inferred classifications), with certain areas infilled to 50m by 50m (Measured and Indicated classifications), with a range of other criteria guiding the classifications within these drill spacing areas.

Ore Reserve Commentary

The Ore Reserve update is based on the 30 June 2019 Iron Valley Ore Reserve estimate and has been updated to account for mining depletion and stockpile adjustments as at 30 June 2020. Material assumptions for the Ore Reserve estimate are based on production data and operating costs to date.

Current and planned mining is by conventional open pit methods. A conventional dry crushing and screening process produces direct shipping ore (DSO) lump and fines products transported by road train to Port Hedland and exported. Financial modelling of the operation is based on a CFR 62% Fe iron ore price of US$75/dmt, an AUD/USD exchange rate of 0.70, penalty discounts for deleterious elements and road train transportation.

The Iron Valley deposit was optimised using Whittle 4X optimisation software including Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources with a cut-off grade of 54% Fe used to define ore within the optimisation. Life of Mine schedules were then completed using pit designs based on the results of the Whittle optimisations. Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources greater than or equal to 54% Fe were then classified as Ore Reserves.

Assumed mining factors included: dilution modelling by regularisation of the geological model using a selective mining unit of 12.5m by 12.5m by 5.0m, with the cut-off applied after regularisation; a 95% mining recovery factor and no minimum mining width.

Processing assumptions are based on the current conventional dry crushing and screening process in operation, producing DSO Lump and Fines products.

All required approvals are in place for the current ongoing operation.

The reported Ore Reserves are a subset of the reported Mineral Resources.

Contact:

Brad Milne

Tel: +61 8 6311 3400

Email: brad.milne@bciminerals.com.au

(C) 2020 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire