Name: Nathan River mine.

Location: The project is located in the Roper Gulf region of Australia’s Northern Territory.

Mine Owner/s: Northern River Resources, a subsidiary of British Marine Group (Britmar).

Brief Description: Nathan River is a producing high-grade openpit iron-ore mine.

Brief History: Previously known as the Roper Bar iron-ore mine, the project was originally developed by Western Desert Resources. Although the mine started production in the second half of 2013, it was placed on care and maintenance in April 2015 as the company went into liquidation.

Northern River Resources acquired the mine from Western Desert Resources in 2017, and secured approval in February 2018 to reopen the mine, ship existing stockpiled material and process low-grade ore.

Northern River Resources revised the mine plan and reserves estimate for the project and secured authorisation from the Northern Territory government for restarting mining activities in May 2020.

Primary Metals/Minerals: Iron-ore.

Secondary Metals/Minerals: None stated.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Nathan River property is located within the McArthur basin, which comprises thick marine and nonmarine sedimentary rocks belonging to the late Paleoproterozoic to the early Mesoproterozoic age.

The hematitic ironstones in the deposit have been locally enriched with the inclusion of microcrystalline specular hematite. 

The project has a high-grade deposit with benchmark iron, extremely low phosphorus and a high lump ratio, attracting premium pricing.

Reserves: Total mineral reserves have been estimated at five-million tonnes grading 60% iron.

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources have been estimated at 466-million grading at 40% iron.

Mining Method: Openpit, using conventional truck-and-shovel equipment.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The mine comprises an openpit; waste rock and/or overburden stockpile areas; a run-of-mine pad; a crushing plant; a power generator; ancillary infrastructure; a fly-in fly-out accommodation camp; on-lease haul roads and light vehicle access roads; a 165 km haul road, with bridges between the mine and Bing Bong port; and a covered conveyor to a barge loadout facility at Bing Bong port.

Prospects: Nathan River Resources was granted further approval to develop the next stage of its Nathan River project in May 2020.

It is estimated that about one-million tonnes of high-grade iron-ore will be mined and exported from the existing openpits and transported using the established haul road to the Bing Bong loadout facility.

Contact Details:
Britmar
Tel +44 207 802 5224
Website https://www.britmarine.co.uk