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Australia

Savage River Operation

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Iron Ore
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotSavage River Operations include Open Cut mining, (North Pit, Centre Pit, and one previously mined pit (South Deposit), which is not currently included in the Life of Mine Plan), a Processing Plant (concentrate production), an Slurry Pipeline, a Pellet Plant (5 vertical shaft furnaces), and Port Latta (total capacity up to 4.5Mtpa).

Mining activities have focused on ore production from Centre Pit and waste stripping on the east wall of North Pit, along with ongoing refinement of pit designs.

Centre Pit will be the main ore source in 2025, with high-grade ore from North Pit Stage 7 expected later in the year.

In early 2025, a progress review confirmed the technical and economic viability of underground mining beneath North Pit, integrating it with the current open-cut operations at Savage River.

Grange Resources is also evaluating an extension of the Centre Pit mine plan as an alternative feed source to complement the North Pit Underground Development.
Related AssetSavage River UG Project

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Grange Resources Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Grange Resources Ltd. indirectly owns 100% interest in the Savage River mine through it's wholly owned subsidiary Grange Resources Tasmania Ltd.

Deposit type

  • Metamorphic hosted

Summary:

The Savage River magnetite deposit lies within and near the eastern margin of the Proterozoic Arthur Metamorphic Complex in north-western Tasmania. This complex is exposed along a northeast-southwest trending structural corridor, the Arthur Lineament, which separates Proterozoic sedimentary rocks to the northwest from a variety of Palaeozoic rocks to the southeast.

The magnetite deposits at Savage River represent the largest of a series of discontinuous lenses that extend in a narrow belt for some 25 kilometres south of the Savage River Township. The deposit is subdivided into sections on the basis of areas that have been mined. The areas are referred to as North Pit, South Lens, Centre Pit, and South Deposit.

Magnetite ore is almost entirely enclosed within a highly sheared and strike-faulted belt of mafic and ultramafic rocks specifically serpentinite and talc-carbonate schist. The magnetite ranges in thickness from 40 to 150 metres in width and is termed the Main Ore Zone (MOZ).

Narrow (<20metre) lenses and layers also occur in the mafic sequence to the west. The mafic sequence comprises chlorite-calcite-albite schist and layered green amphibole-chlorite-albite schist.

A suite of late, strongly deformed metabasalt and metadolerite intrusive dykes occur either subparallel to or cut obliquely across the MOZ. Vein magnesite occurs adjacent to the MOZ with significant bodies developed in the east at South Lens and at the west in North Pit.

The magnetite ores comprise three volumetrically important groups: pyritic ores, ores associated with serpentine and talc-carbonate ores. The ore may be massive, layered, or disseminated and range from being fine-grained to coarsely crystalline. Accessory mineral phases may include talc, tremolite, actinolite, chlorite, epidote, apatite and carbonate in varying amounts. The mineral assemblages preserved at Savage River imply middle to upper green-schist facies metamorphic conditions.

Dimensions
The Savage River orebodies occur discontinuously over a strike length of 6km with thickness ranging from 40-150m.

All lenses remain open at depth.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnits202420232022202120202019201820172016
Iron (magnetite) Pellets t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,055,0432,185,6271,895,1802,378,486
Iron Ore Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,1172,2761,9602,397

Operational metrics

Metrics202420232022202120202019201820172016
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,108,370 bcm1,050,067 bcm1,193,821 bcm1,218,363 bcm
Total tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe14,462,931 bcm14,730,697 bcm12,461,515 bcm9,514,884 bcm

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20242023202220212020201920182017
C1 cash costs Iron Ore AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 114.26 / t   98.1 / t   99.2 / t  

Mine Financials

Units20242023202220212020201920182017
Capital expenditures M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 23.8   27.7   110.7  
Revenue M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 368.6   368.2   247.9  
Gross profit M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 82.5   129.3   74.5  
Pre-tax Income M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 81.6   135.3   66.8  
After-tax Income M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 77.3   112.9   60.7  
Operating Cash Flow M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 55.7   167.4   71.2  

Personnel

Mine Management

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Workforce

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Aerial view:

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