Name of the Project
Iron Ridge direct shipping ore (DSO) iron project.

Location
The project is located 490 km from the Port of Geraldton, in Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Fenix Resources.

Project Description
A feasibility study on Iron Ridge has confirmed a high-grade and -quality project that provides strong returns over its six-and-a-half-year life-of-mine.

The feasibility study includes a maiden ore reserve of 7.76-million tonnes at 63.9% iron.

This underpins forecast production of 1.25-million tonnes a year.

The mine will comprise a single openpit operation using a conventional excavator-truck mining fleet, adopting 10 m benches and mining them in three flitches.

Ore and waste will be hauled to the run-of-mine pad and waste dump respectively by a fleet of 100 t haul trucks. Drill-and-blast will be conducted using a top-hammer drill rig and ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO) or heavy ANFO explosives.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of A$54.3-million and an internal rate of return of 58.9%.

Capital Expenditure
The project has an initial capital cost of A$11.5-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Under the current timelines, Fenix is hoping to start development activities at Iron Ridge in October 2020, with first shipments targeted for early 2021. 

Latest Developments
Fenix Resources has secured approvals from the Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety for the project management plan and clearing permit for the project.

The approvals will allow for mine development to start.

Meanwhile, contractor Decmil has been awarded a A$41-million contract to undertake nonmining process infrastructure works at the Iron Bridge magnetite project.

Under the scope of the work, Decmil will design and build a bulk fuel storage and transfer facility, a mobile maintenance complex, including workshops, warehouses and related satellite offices, as well as site service facilities.

The bulk fuel storage and transfer facility will provide a refuelling facility for heavy vehicles, while the mobile maintenance complex will include a heavy vehicle workshop that incorporates locker storage, tool storage and an administration area.

Construction is scheduled to start in September and will be completed in May 2021.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
M2A Partners/Thurlestone Shipping (marketing and shipping); CSA Global (resource estimation); Mining Plus (mine design and schedules); Peter O’Bryan & Associates (geotechnical assessment); Rockwater (hydrological assessment and modelling); ALS/Nagrom/CSIRO (metallurgical testwork); METS Engineering (metallurgical assessment); HFC Mining (engineering); Fenix Newhaul (road transport logistics); and MACA (mining operations).

Contact Details for Project Information
Fenix Resources, tel +61 8 9486 4036 or email info@fenixresources.com.