Sphere to build $900m iron-ore mine in Mauritania
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The board of junior Sphere Minerals on Thursday approved the $900-million development of the Askaf North iron-ore project, in Mauritania.
The board approval followed a confirmation of key fiscal terms by the Mauritanian government, and the conclusion of contractual agreements for the provision of port and rail services for the project.
The Askaf North deposit has a total resource of some 404-million tonnes, grading 36% iron, and was expected to deliver about seven-million tonnes a year. The port and rail service agreement would allow Sphere to transport this product from the mine site, and load it on ships at the Port of Nouadhibou.
First production from Askaf North was expected in early 2017.
Meanwhile, Sphere also announced on Thursday that its independent directors had approved an increase in a loan agreement with parent company GlencoreXstrata’s Australian holding company, for a maximum drawdown of $186-million to fund the ongoing project work in Mauritania.
The initial loan agreement had been for $80-million, and carried an interest rate of 12% a year, plus a 1% yearly commitment fee on the undrawn amount of the facility.
Sphere told shareholders that the remainder of the funding required to develop Askaf North would be sourced from further loans or rights issues.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation