PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Iron-ore developer Legacy Iron has nearly tripled its Mount Bevan resource to 1.6-billion tons, following a second phase of reverse circulation and diamond drilling at the Western Australian project.

“This significant Joint Ore Reserves Committee (Jorc) increase provides further confirmation of Mount Bevan as a genuinely premier magnetite orebody with outstanding potential for extremely attractive project financials, which are further enhanced by NMDC’s support,” said Legacy Iron’s MD Sharon Heng.

The Mount Bevan project was being jointly developed by Legacy Iron and Hawthorn Resources. Under the agreement, Legacy could earn a 60% interest in the project by spending a minimum of A$3.5-million to develop the project to the prefeasibility study stage.

Heng noted on Wednesday that although classed as an inferred resource, drilling to date has shown the mineralised body to have exceptional continuity, both along the 10 km of strike and down dip.

As a result, Heng said that the company had high confidence of increasing and efficiently converting the Jorc resource status with further drilling.

As a first step towards converting a substantial part of the inferred resource to indicated category, Legacy was now planning a 7 000 m, Phase 3 drilling programme, which would start later this month.
 

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