By George Obulutsa
NAIROBI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Australian specialist miner Base Resources BSE.AX said on Tuesday that it plans to start exploratory drilling in Tanzania in the first half of this year.
It is also conducting drilling to determine whether the life of its $305 million Kenyan titanium mine might be extended, Managing Director Tim Carstens told a conference call with reporters in Nairobi. The project, Kenya's largest mining investment, is in the coastal region of Kwale and has roughly eight years left to run.
"We should be in a position to hopefully declare an additional resource, which will mean an extension of the Kwale mine life," Carstens said.
Base Resources said it expected to produce between 450,000 to 480,000 tonnes of ilmenite this year, compared with 455,870 tonnes produced in the year to June 30, 2016. The projection is unchanged from its July 2016 forecasts.
Its production of rutile is expected to be 88,000 to 93,000 tonnes, up from 85,654 tonnes in the last financial year. In July, it had a forecast of 88,000 to 95,000 tonnes.
It expects to produce 33,000 to 37,000 tonnes of zircon, compared with 31,389 tonnes in the last financial year, trimming its July forecast of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes.
Zircon output will be boosted from the production of 8,000 to 10,000 tonnes of low grade zircon, made from re-processing secondary zircon ore.
Ilmenite is used for titanium dioxide production and as a base pigment in paint, paper and plastics. Rutile is used in refractory ceramics and as a pigment. Zircon is used to make ceramic tiles and in refractories, foundries and chemicals. ($1 = 103.9000 Kenyan shillings)