The Company's main Iron ore projects, Mt Ida and Mt Elvire, are located in the Yilgarn Iron Province of Western Australia. Both are early stage projects with significant potential in an emerging region that benefits from access to existing infrastructure.
Infrastructure
Both Mt Ida and Mt Elvire are within trucking distance of operational railways that access the deep water port at Esperance. Esperance port is expanding facilities in the near future to increase capacity from the current 11.5Mtpa to approximately 32Mtpa.
Mt Ida is approximately 80km northwest of the operational railway at Menzies. Other operators in the district have proposed building a spur line to access iron deposits at both Mt Ida and Mt Forrest.
Mt Elvire is approximately 150km west of the railway at Menzies and 140km north of the railway at Koolyanobbing. The haul road operated by Cliffs Natural Resources from Windarling to Koolyanobbing is located 55km south of Mt Elvire.
Mt Ida Iron Ore Project
Locations in Mt Ida – Mt Bevan District
The Mt Ida Iron Ore Project is located 180km north northwest of Kalgoorlie in the Yilgarn Iron Province of Western Australia.
The project was acquired in March 2011 and comprises the rights to explore and mine for iron ore on a group of 71 licences covering approximately 370km2. The principal targets are located on licences E29/561 and E29/644 (referred to as the "core tenements") where the Company holds 100% and 85% respectively of the iron ore rights.
The core tenements are prospective for DSO (detrital and in-situ) and magnetite banded iron formation ("BIF") iron deposits. Initial exploration at Mt Ida has defined an exploration target size of 1.1 to 1.4 billion tonnes with a grade of 30 to 37% Fe for the Eastern and Western BIF units. This estimate comprises 0.17 to 0.23 billion tonnes of oxide BIF at 35 to 45% Fe, and 0.9 to 1.2 billion tonnes of magnetite BIF at 30 to 35% Fe. This excludes DSO potential.
Geology
The core tenements are located in the northwest of the Archaean Mt Ida greenstone belt and cover approximately 10km of strike of the eastern unit of the Mt Ida – Mt Bevan BIF.
The Mt Ida – Mt Bevan BIF sequence strikes over 30km northwest from Mt Ida in the south to Mt Bevan in the north and generally dips 40 – 50 degrees to the east.
Other explorers active along the Mt Ida – Mt Bevan BIF include Jupiter Mines Limited and Legacy Iron Ore Limited.
Exploration
The objectives of the exploration program in the second half of 2011 is to commence drilling to define the structure and tenor of the Eastern BIF and DSO targets.
Mt Elvire Iron Ore Project
Prospect Locations – Mt Elvire
The Mt Elvire Iron Ore Project comprises exploration licence E77/1269 (60km2) and 2 priority exploration licence applications held 100% by the Company. The licences are located 230km northwest of Kalgoorlie in the Yilgarn Iron Province of Western Australia.
Four main prospects hosting BIF have been identified to date on E77/1269 being Iron Crescent, Camelback, Jigsaw and Nook.The licences and applications are prospective for in-situ DSO and magnetite BIF iron deposits. Exploration on E77/1269 to date has defined an exploration target size of 515 – 675 million tonnes at 26 – 46% Fe including oxide and fresh BIF of 500 – 650 million tonnes at 25 – 45% Fe.
Geology
The Mt Elvire Iron Ore Project is located in the north of the Johnston Range – Diemals greenstone belt, part of the Southern Cross granite-greenstone terrain in the Archean Yilgarn Craton.Airborne magnetic survey data shows approximately 40km of strike of outcropping and covered BIF on E77/1269. Of this approximately 10-15km represents high magnetic segments with potential for magnetite BIF at depth and for DSO targets on structural breaks.
Exploration
Exploration drilling to date has focused on testing the Iron Crescent prospect. A total of 46 holes for 3,591m of RC drilling were completed in 2 phases in at the Iron Crescent in 2010. Significant results include:
- 20m at 60.0% Fe from 4m, in hole ICRC02;
- 20m at 57.5% Fe from 32m in hole ICRC43;
- 85m at 44.87% Fe from surface in hole ICRC04; and
- 120m at 32% Fe from 36m in hole ICRC28.
Drilling to date at Iron Crescent has confirmed the occurrence of BIF in 2 units over a strike length of 6km plus has located high grade hematite-goethite mineralisation representing potential DSO material to depths of approximately 30-40 metres below surface in the west segment of the south lode.Scout drilling (2 holes for 174m) confirmed iron mineralisation at Camelback with the best result of 85m at 35.4% Fe from surface in hole CBRC001. Further work is planned to follow-up the high grade zone at Iron Crescent and to identify other DSO targets on the licence.
The Robinson Range Iron Ore Project comprises a joint venture between PepinNini Minerals Limited (40% and manager), Grosvenor Gold Pty Ltd (40%) and Fe Limited (20%). The Joint Venture covers the iron rights to 4 tenements covering 390km2 located approximately 500km northeast of Geraldton in the Midwest Iron Province of Western Australia.
PepinNini Minerals have completed surface mapping and sampling and identified several high grade hematite (DSO) targets with exploration potential of up to 100Mt.