Name of the Project
Hawsons Iron project.
Location
Near Broken Hill, in New South Wales, Australia.
Project Owner/s
Hawsons Iron, formerly Carpentaria Resources.
Project Description
A prefeasibility study has shown the project has robust economics for the production of ten-million tonnes a year of Hawson’s Supergrade, with a product specification of 69.9% iron for a mine life of 20 years. The ore is to be mined and processed on site, with the final mineral concentrate being transported by slurry pipeline to a rail head site near Broken Hill.
The truck-and-shovel mining method will be used for prestripping and the early mine plan, while in-pit conveying (IPC) will be used in Year 5 once meaningful depths have been reached. The plan is to use the conveyor for the vertical lift and the trucks for horizontal movement, maximising the use of comparatively cheap electrical power, reducing truck hours and improving safety.
Following a prestrip of about 150-million tonnes, the life-of-mine waste:ore ratio is 0.40, dropping to near zero by Year 11.
A total of 1.41-billion tonnes of ore and 568-million tonnes of waste are mined after prestripping. A maximum mining rate of 152-million tonnes a year is expected to be achieved in Year 7. All major processing will occur in the magnetite concentrator at the mine site before transporting the concentrate in slurry from the railhead for dewatering. Tailings will be thickened and pumped to a circular tailings storage facility, and single-cell and perimeter discharge will be used.
Potential Job Creation
Hawsons is expected to create more than 1 200 jobs in construction, and 500 jobs in steady-state production.
Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a post-tax geared net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $1.09-billion and an internal rate of return of 30%.
Capital Expenditure
Preproduction costs have been estimated at $1.4-billion.
Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.
Latest Developments
Hawsons Iron will slow the pace of its bankable feasibility study (BFS) on its namesake project. MD Bryan Granzien has said there will be a managed slowdown in all BFS activity, a thorough analysis of the capital and operating cost estimates presented to date, and a strategic review of all options to progress the project, including scaling opportunities.
“A project slowdown is the most sensible and prudent response to preserve capital, given global cost pressures, and will allow for a focus on optimising pathways in the best interests of shareholders,” chairperson Dave Woodall has said.
The company’s capacity to raise additional capital during the next 12 months will be contingent on the passage of resolutions to be presented to shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting on November 15.
“The passage of these resolutions will significantly enhance the company’s equity funding capacity and options to fund the required BFS activities,” he has added.
“This analysis and review process are going to take some time. The BFS will not be completed by the end of December 2022, but we have been left with no other choice given the current state of global capital markets and world economy,” Granzien has said.
Work on the BFS started in 2021; however, as a consequence of the increased 400-million-tonne mineral resource estimate announced in October 2021, the scope of the BFS was expanded to investigate upscaling the project’s production profile to 20-million tonnes a year using a direct-to-port slurry pipeline.
The Hawsons Iron board later endorsed a decision to focus solely on the development of a 20-million-tonne-a-year project, owing to its expanded economic; environmental, social and governance outcomes; and its investment appeal relative to a smaller project.
Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.
Contact Details for Project Information
Hawsons Iron, tel +61 7 3220 2022.