Australia-based Magnum Mining and Exploration may have found an export solution for its Buena Vista iron project, in Nevada, US.
The company on Tuesday announced a memorandum of understanding with Levin-Richmond Terminal, operators of a rail terminal and port facility in Richmond, California.
The port and its existing train unloading and ship loading infrastructure is connected by rail to Magnum’s Buena Vista project, where the company plans to produce direct reduction iron (DRI) grade concentrate.
Magnum CEO Neil Goodman commented that the company had quickly established an excellent working relationship with Levin-Richmond Terminal.
The company would complete a due diligence before negotiating a definitive agreement.
Magnum is pursuing options that seek to bring Buena Vista on line in the shortest possible time. The mine is designed to produce DRI-grade concentrate. DRI feeds are increasing in demand as steel mills seek to reduce their emissions by moving to low-carbon technologies.
A scoping study completed in August 2023 considers the project as technically low-risk because of the well-studied metrics of the proposed mining and beneficiation operation.
Envisaged is a standalone openpit mine supplying a conventional crush, grind and magnetic separation process, targeting 1.6-million tonnes a year of DRI magnetite concentrate production over an initial 25-year life-of-mine (LoM). Over the current LoM, 84% of ore will be sourced from indicated resources and 16% from inferred resources. Magnum has advised that the inferred resources are not a determining factor in the project’s viability and that the inferred resources are not required early in the mine plan.