JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Triple-listed Ferrum Crescent on Tuesday said its Moonlight iron-ore project, in Limpopo, would have access to an “almost complete” infrastructure solution.

While negotiations for the project’s infrastructure access continued, the potential mine had access to the Thabazimbi railhead 220 km away, a proposed slurry pipeline route and established power, water, road and port infrastructure.

Since the restart of the bankable feasibility study (BFS) in the fourth quarter of 2014, Ferrum had progressed negotiations regarding project development with a series of parties, including infrastructure providers, said MD Tom Revy.

“Following the start of work in the fourth quarter of 2014, the BFS and corporate activity have escalated significantly. This work is actively forming the basis of progressing the Moonlight BFS on a number of fronts and I look forward to announcing a further update to the market shortly,” he explained in an update to shareholders on Tuesday.

Ferrum said that, as the BFS production figures were confirmed, the company would start finalising the application to Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) for the required rail capacity.

The company could leverage TFR’s four-stage expansion in rail capacity to 24-million tonnes a year from Thabazimbi to Ermelo, which was expected to be completed by June 2020.

TFR was also undertaking a prefeasibility study for a new heavy-haul line from Thabazimbi to Ermelo, which could introduce additional capacity of 30-million tonnes a year from 2024.

Further, the State-owned rail firm planned to increase the capacity of the Richards Bay line from the current 72-million tonnes a year to 97-million tonnes a year by 2020.

Ferrum also aimed to provide Transnet Port Terminals with details of its estimated production volumes and project timing and to start negotiations for port allocations at the Richards Bay port.

The group would resubmit its power service request to State-owned power utility Eskom once the project’s final power requirements were determined.

Currently, it was estimated that the mine would require about 110 MW to 120 MW of power from the Medupi power station, in Lephalale.

The power supply to the mine and distribution would require construction of a dedicated 132 kV line directly from Medupi to the mine.

“During the BFS, consideration will also be given to the potential of self-generation options,” the company added.

Meanwhile, discussions with the Department of Water and Sanitation over potential water supply and allocations for the mine continued.

“Potential sources of water supply for Moonlight include the Mokolo and Crocodile river water augmentation projects or direct extraction from the Crocodile river. Other options would include water supply from the Limpopo or Lephalala rivers by transfer of water allocations through purchases or leases.

“Artificial recharge facilities along the Limpopo and or Lephalala rivers might also be a consideration,” Ferrum concluded.