Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore developer Winmar Resources has identified three economically viable transport options for its Hamersley project, in Western Australia.
The purpose of the transport study, which was launched in April following a positive mine gate scoping study at Hamersley, was to evaluate the economic viability of transporting iron-ore from the proposed mine site to a port on the Pilbara coast.
The study examined four of the 20 distinct options available to transport the ore to port, and three options were identified as economically viable for the optimal use of existing roads through to rail infrastructure.
Winmar said the Hamersley joint venture (JV) partners would now undertake site visits with a highway engineer to determine the condition and acceptability of the existing roads for haul road traffic and to refine cost estimates for the three options, while also restarting discussions with third-party infrastructure owners with regards to road and rail access.
The JV partners would also start discussion with local shire road owners to determine the process for gaining access to existing roads, and would undertake preliminary hydrological and geotechnical assessment of the mine exit road.
The Hamersley scoping study estimated that the project could sustain a two-million-tonne-a-year direct shipping ore project for three to four years, after which a wet beneficiated fines ore process, with a capacity of some two-million tonnes a year, would be introduced for the remainder of the 14-year mine life.
The transport scoping study was based on the project’s mineral resource of 42.6-million tonnes, and was based on a mining operation of between two-million and four-million tonnes a year, with a mine life of between 10 and 15 years.