PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Juniors Brockman Mining and Mineral Resources (MIN) will officially form a joint venture (JV) over the Marillana iron-ore project, in Western Australia, to progress it towards development.

The ASX-listed Brockman on Friday announced that MIN’s farm-in obligations, through its subsidiary Polaris Metals, had now been completed, with 50% of the Marillana project now being transferred to Polaris.

In addition to the formal establishment of a JV over Marillana, Brockman and MIN have also agreed that Brockman’s Ophthalmia project would also be included in the JV, with 50% of this project being transferred to Polaris.

With the JV now established, the partners would start work on the development of an iron-ore mining hub capable of producing a minimum 25-million tonnes a year of iron-ore for export.

On the formation of the JV, MIN would immediately start initial development works at Marillana and Ophthalmia mine sites, as well as on the prospective transport corridor and port area.

The initial development work, which will be funded by MRL, is expected to cost some A$105-million.

Brockman said on Friday that the immediate start of the initial development work will speed up the development timeframe of both Marillana and Ophthalmia. The current development timeframe is estimated at around 42 months from the formation of the JV.

To date, MUB has submitted indicative development proposals that include an agreement by MIN to provide the JV with sufficient funding for project capital cost for each development, by way of a project loan.

The proposal also includes a build, own and operate arrangement between the JV and MIN for certain non-processing infrastructure at Marillana, as well as a build, own and operate arrangement for the crushing plant at Ophthalmia, a proposed logistics system to transport the ore from the mines to the port stockyard at Port Hedland, and a current market-based estimate for project capital and operating costs.

The indicative development proposal also contained details for the construction of a berth at a dedicated location in Port Hedland, which would be subject to the approval of the state government.