PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands developer Strandline Resources has secured port access for its Coburn mineral sands project, in Western Australia.
The ASX-listed company on Monday announced that it had signed a binding port access and services agreement with the Mid West Ports Authority, which operates the Port of Geraldton, enabling Strandline to export all of the mineral sands products produced at the Coburn project over a ten-year term.
The agreement allows Strandline to export some 230 000 t/y of mineral sands, including heavy mineral concentrate, premium zircon, zircon concentrate, chloride grade ilmenite and rutile products.
“Establishing this port agreement with the Mid West Ports Authority provides Strandline long-term certainty to export its mineral sands products and represents another strong endorsement of the Coburn project,” said MD Luke Graham.
“Coburn is a world-class critical minerals project and benefits greatly from its proximity to established infrastructure and mining services in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
“Strandline is rapidly meeting the key conditions required to finalise our project funding. Coburn’s technical and financial quality is reflected in the top shelf caliber of our suppliers, contractors and our customers, as well as the A$150-million loan facility secured with the North Australian Infrastructure Fund, which has conducted extensive due diligence on the project,” Graham said.
Located 240 km north of Geraldton, the Coburn project has ore reserves of 523-million tonnes and an initial mine life of 22.5 years at a planned average mining rate of 23.4-million tonnes a year.