PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into the Agbaja cast steel project, in Nigeria, has confirmed that the project could support a mine life of 25 years.
Agbaja is planned to mine iron-ore and produce a competitively priced steel billet for the Nigerian domestic market, with the project based on a mineral resource of 586.3-million tonnes, at 41.3% iron.
ASX-listed Kogi Iron on Monday said that the scoping study was completed as part of the ongoing feasibility study into the project, which is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2022.
The scoping study estimated that the project would require a capital investment of $507-million, based on a mining rate of 1.7-million tonnes a year and an average steel billet production of 500 000 t/y.
The project is estimated to have an after-tax net present value of $273-million and an internal rate of return of 14%, with a pay-back period of some six years.
“The completion of the Agbaja project scoping study is an important milestone in the evaluation of the Agbaja iron-ore mining and steel billet project,” said Kogi’s executive chairperson, Craig Hart.
“The results are extremely encouraging, and this scoping study shows that the project is economically viable,” said Hart, noting that it gave the company the confidence to rapidly progress the project to the next phase.
The balance of the feasibility study will comprise additional test work, environmental permitting, detailed mining and plant design, resource upgrade if required and other study aspects.