PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The joint venture (JV) between juniors Brockman Mining and Mineral Resources has been amended to extend the delivery of some development targets at the Marillana project, in Western Australia, by one year.

To acquire a 50% interest in the Marillana project, Mineral Resources will spend A$250 000 on exploration and development activities at the project tenements, and will complete the process design criteria for the processing plants, optimise the mine plan study, and finalise mine development layout plans for the Marillana operation.

The JV partners have now agreed that the farm-in obligation could take up to 12 months longer than initially anticipated, and have agreed to extend two of the key dates under the JV agreement.

The start of construction of the rail and port system has now been extended from the end of December this year, until the end of December 2020, while the start of operations for the rail and port system has also been extended from the end of 2021, to the end of 2022.

As a result, Mineral Resources and Brockman have also extended the time to satisfy the conditions precedent for the mine-to-ship agreement, inked in January this year from December this year until December 2020.

The mine-to-ship logistics agreement will see Mineral Resources construct, commission and operate the rail, rolling stock and port infrastructure require to transport up to 30-million tonnes a year of iron-ore from the mine site to Port Hedland, and to load it onto vessels for export, over the life of the Marillana project.

The conditions precedent include Mineral Resources executing a state agreement with the Western Australian government, procuring all the leases and licences for the light rail system and port infrastructure, obtaining project finance to fund the construction and commissioning of the rail and port infrastructure, and the Mineral Resources board making a final investment decision to proceed.