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Australia

Hawsons Iron Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StagePre-Feasibility
Commodities
  • Iron Ore
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotPre-feasibility Study results for the project, which was completed in 2017, showed that it is capable of producing the world’s highest-grade iron product (70% Fe), making it the world’s leading undeveloped high-quality iron ore concentrate and pellet feed project.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Hawsons Iron Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Hawsons Iron Ltd (Hawsons or the Company) is pleased to advise that the purchase of Starlight Investment Company Pty Ltd’s (Starlight) 6.037 per cent interest in the Hawsons Iron Project Joint Venture has been completed to secure full beneficial ownership and control of the Project.

Deposit type

  • Iron formation hosted

Summary:

The Hawsons Magnetite Project is situated within folded, upper greenschist facies Neoproterozoic rocks of the Adelaide Fold Belt. The Braemar Facies magnetite ironstone is the host stratigraphy and comprises a series of narrow, strike extensive magnetite-bearing siltstones generally with a moderate dip. The airborne magnetic data clearly indicates the magnetite siltstones as a series of parallel, narrow, high amplitude magnetic anomalies. Large areas of the Hawsons prospective stratigraphy are concealed by transported ferricrete and other younger cover. The base of oxidation due to weathering over the prospective horizons is estimated to average 80m in depth.

The Hawsons project comprises a number of prospects including the Core, Fold, T-Limb, South Limb and Wonga deposits. Resource Estimates have been generated for the Core and Fold areas which are contiguous.

The depositional environment for the Braemar Iron Formation is believed to be a subsiding basin, with initial rapid subsidence related to rifting possibly in a graben setting eg the diamictites in the lower part of the sequence. A possible sag phase of cyclical subsidence followed with deposition of finer grained sediments with more consistent, as compared to the diamictite units, bed thicknesses, style and clast composition. The top of the Interbed Unit marks the transition from high to lower energy sediment deposition.

The distribution of disseminated, inclusion-free magnetite in the Braemar Iron Formation at Hawsons is related to the composition and nature of the sedimentary beds. The idioblastic nature of the of the magnetite is believed due to one or more of a range of possible processes including in situ recrystallisation of primary detrital grains, chemical precipitation from seawater, permeation of iron-rich metamorphic fluids associated with regional greenschist metamorphism. Grain size generally ranges from 10microns to 0.2mm but tends to average around the 40micron mark. The sediment composition and grain size appear to provide a control on the mineralisation. There is no evidence for structural control in the form of veins or veinlets coupled with the lack of a strong structural fabric.

In the majority of the Core and Fold deposit the units strike south east and dip between 45 and 65° to the south west. The eastern Fold deposit comprises a relatively tight synclinal fold structure resulting in a 90 o strike rotation.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Iron (magnetite) kt 10,000201,000
All production numbers are expressed as concentrate.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual mining rate 98 Mt *
Annual ore mining rate 70.4 Mt *
Annual production capacity 10 M dmt of iron (magnetite) concentrate *
Stripping / waste ratio 0.4 *
Waste tonnes, LOM 717 Mt *
Ore tonnes mined, LOM 1,423 Mt *
Total tonnes mined, LOM 2,140 Mt *
* According to 2017 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Iron (magnetite) USD 39.7 / dmt *  
C1 cash costs Iron (magnetite) USD 33.1 / dmt *  
Assumed price Iron (magnetite) USD 88.1 / dmt *  
* According to 2017 study / presentation.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Closure costs $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 10% $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNamePhoneProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 11, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 11, 2024

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2017

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