International diversified resources company, Astra Resources Plc has received a favorable report from the Cagayan River Construction & Development Corporation on its Philippine iron sands project.

The report, commissioned by the CRCDC who is Astra’s joint venture partner for the project, identifies the iron ore potential of the immediate surroundings of the CRCDC dredging area in the Cagayan River Delta.

The area considered in the report is partly inland and extensively offshore, covering most of the northern shelf area of the Cagayan Province in the North Eastern part of Luzon in the Philippines.

Dr Jaydeep Biswas CEO of Astr said that the main material to be dredged contains magnetite, the principal iron bearing mineral, which is black in colour and is present within river sediments and offshore sands.

Mr Biswas said that “Large offshore deposits of magnetite have accumulated from the discharge of the Cagayan River and other rivers that empty through the sea, with much of the deposits dating back through many geological eras.”

“Magnetite is resistant to weathering and is therefore preserved through the geological ages in its primary form and composition. The highly magnetic nature of magnetite means it can be recovered with relative ease using magnetic separators, making it an economically attractive mineral to recover.”

A number of major offshore exploration programs have been conducted in the Cagayan River Delta and shelf area with samples from a 2009 program showing the approximate mineralogical composition of the iron sands being 75% magnetite (including hematite/titanium) and 25% rock forming minerals.

A second exploration program, which was undertaken just over two kilometres from the offshore dredge area, showed that the average content of the magnetic fraction is 46.2% at a seabed sediment depth of one metre, increasing to an average of 49% at depths of three and 5.5 metres.

(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.com.au)