Thabazimbi Project

Location of Aquila's South Africa Project Areas

Aquila’s Thabazimbi project area is located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, some 200km north-west of Pretoria, and comprises three New Order prospecting rights or tenements, namely Rotterdam 547 PR (Rotterdam), Klipgat 613 PR (Klipgat) and Vlaknek 614 PR (Vlaknek); see figures below. A fourth tenement, Donkerpoort, is currently under application. This tenement covers an extension of the Penge Iron Formation from the farm Randstephne on the adjacent Aquila held Klipgat tenement.

The town of Thabazimbi is central to all four tenements. The tenements are currently held under a joint venture in which Aquila currently holds a 74% stake. Thabazimbi lies 945 meters above sea-level and is located approximately 130km from several major towns, including Rustenburg, Brits, Warmbaths and Ellisras. Currently there are approximately 17,000 residents in the Thabazimbi municipal area. The iron ore mine, agricultural industry and government services are the largest sectors of employment in the area.

The Thabazimbi deposit is situated at the base of the Penge Iron Formation, along the contact with underlying black carbonaceous shales and dolomites. The major known iron ore deposits are located south of the town of Thabazimbi, along one of two main east-west ridges.

Iron ore deposits in the Thabazimbi area are found within the Penge Formation in two primary stratigraphic positions, refer figure below. The largest iron ore occurrences are found along the basal contact of the Penge Formation on the underlying shales and dolomites.

The major ore bodies currently mined by Kumba are primarily located in the Northern Range, where mineralisation is well developed in four ore bodies occurring over a 12km strike length. Haematite ore occurs as large, tabular, stratabound bodies in the basal and lower part of the Penge Iron Formation. One ore body is mined in the Southern Range, with one ore body mined in the Middle Range.

Deposits generally contain high-grade haematite ores with more than 60 wt% iron and less than 15 wt% SiO2. The deposits generally occur as stratabound bodies of variable size in the Penge Iron Formation. The Penge Formation typically contains 20 wt% to 35 wt% Fe, and there is still some debate as to how this Formation was partially transformed to deposits containing more than 60 wt% Fe. Supergene or metasomatic models are currently favoured.

Since commencing in late 2007, drilling has focused to date on the Klipgat and Brakvallei targets on the Klipgat tenement, as well as the Leeuwbosch and Cornwall targets on the Rotterdam tenement, due to their proximity to the existing operations at Thabazimbi.

Regional geology and location of the iron ore deposits currently mined at Thabazimbi

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