UK development company Anglesey Mining has entered into an agreement to acquire another 29.8% of Grängesberg Iron (GIAB), the entity that owns the Grängesberg iron-ore project in Sweden.

Anglesey will buy Roslagen Resources’ 29.8% stake in GIAB, taking the firm’s ownership level to 49.75%, and the assignment to Anglesey of 40% of outstanding subordinated debt owed to Roslagen by GIAB with a nominal value of £335 000, for a total consideration of £525 000.

“We continue to believe the Grängesberg project has the potential to be restarted as one of Europe’s largest individual producers of iron-ore concentrates. When combined with the high-grade nature of the concentrate and proximity to European steel mills, the asset clearly demonstrates highly strategic positioning,” said Anglesey CEO Jo Battershill.

The updated prefeasibility study (PFS) for Grängesberg, completed in July last year, highlighted the robust economics of the asset with a post-tax net present value of $688-million, at an iron-ore price of $120/t, 62% iron, CFR China benchmark, and free-on-board costs of $53/t to the ice-free Port of Oxelösund, Sweden.

Previously, revenue was also generated from the sale of apatite concentrates produced from the tailings stream. While the PFS indicates potential apatite production of 210 000 t/y, no sales have yet been included in the financial evaluation. This product also contains elevated rare earth content, Anglesey noted.

The Swedish Mining Inspectorate granted Grängesberg a 25-year mining concession for the iron-ore mine in 2013.

 Battershill said Anglesey would now advance the project through to a financial investment decision.

“This could be completed along with securing a strategic investor, offtake partner, separate listing, or a combination of these options. However, we recognise that there is still a lot of work to complete at Grängesberg, including updating both the resource and reserve models and undertaking environmental assessment studies as preliminary steps to preparing a feasibility study.”

Andreas Simoncic, a director and shareholder of Roslagen, will remain on the board of GIAB.