Debate persists about whether the ‘mining boom’ is
dead and buried, just idling for a while, or something
that never actually existed for more than a handful
of select companies. Some, like the WA Premier
Colin Barnett, regard the sector’s slowing as ‘not a
bad thing’, allowing a ‘more orderly development of
our natural resources’.
The board of IronClad Mining, like many in the
industry, has experienced the ebb and flow of
economic cycles all before. IronClad continues to
focus on ensuring it achieves optimal performance for
shareholders so that operations can remain economic
in the long term – to weather repeated cyclic troughs,
and not just the current challenges from today’s
economic climate.
In this article, IronClad’s Executive Chairman,
Ian Finch, provides an overview of the company’s
Wilcherry Hill iron ore project, located on South
Australia’s northern Eyre Peninsula, as it progresses
nearer to production.
FUTUREPROOFINGWILCHERRYHILL
IAN FINCH
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
IRONCLAD MINING LTD
IronClad Mining is an exciting junior iron ore company that
is moving closer to production at its South Australian Wilcherry
Hill project.
The company was originally established in 2007 to accelerate
the development of the Wilcherry Hill crystalline magnetite iron
ore deposit. The company subsequently discovered, and will now
also develop, the more traditional style banded iron formation
Hercules deposit, 15 kilometres west of Wilcherry.
The project is an 80:20 joint venture between IronClad and
Trafford Resources, whereby the joint venture has the mining
rights to all iron ore within the four tenements under the
agreement, covering 976 square kilometres, and favourably located
130
kilometres from Whyalla’s steel industry and 45 kilometres
north of Kimba.
With an exploration potential in excess of 1.5 billion tonnes, the
project has had some notable achievements in the last few years,
including the expansion of
JORC compliant iron resources
from 44 Million tonnes (Mt) to
over 263 Mt. The project is set
to produce a premium quality,
Direct Shipping Ore (DSO)
product for sale to international
steel mills, and it has a four
year off-take agreement signed
with Hong Kong based New
Page Investment.
Unlike many iron ore
hopefuls, IronClad has the full
range of infrastructure covered
with its port structure in place,
and a road directly connected
to the Lucky Bay port some
154
kilometres away.
Additionally, IronClad has
the ‘right’ to commence mining
with mining leases granted,
a native title agreement
signed, and its Program for
Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) approved.
The company has also constructed an 80-person mining village
in Kimba, so as IronClad stands on the cusp of production, the
company is prudently ‘lining up all of its ducks’ in preparation for
a sound and fruitful future.
The project will comprise three stages. Stage one, for which
all metallurgical test work is now completed, will involve mining
and shipping of DSO (+60%Fe) and specification ore produced
through simple Dry Magnetic Separation (DMS) processes. Stage
one operations are set to achieve production of 1 million tonnes per
annum (Mtpa), increasing to 2Mtpa.
Stage two will encompass mining, processing and shipping ore
that is neither DSO nor upgradeable by DMS but can be upgraded
to specification by gravity separation. Stage two studies are well
advanced with the design and costing of a 2.5Mtpa gravity circuit,
and a tailings dam development program and schedule.
Wilcherry Hill Homestead
MINESITE 2012
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