PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Flinder Mines has launched a scoping study to test the viability of a three-million-tonne-a-year direct shipping ore (DSO) operation at its flagship Pilbara iron-ore project (PIOP), in Western Australia.
“This scoping study will redefine Flinders’ PIOP to ‘right size’ the development for our company with a focus on speed to market and lowering upfront capital, while leveraging off the considerable work already completed at PIOP, including state and federal approvals, native title agreements and approximately 190 000 m of drilling,” said Flinders MD and CEO Steven Michael.
“Within PIOP’s large global resource base, we are now looking at initially developing higher grade pits within the Delta and Paragon deposits which are expected to provide sufficient ore to demonstrate the economics of a lower tonnage, higher grade development compared to previous alternatives considered for PIOP.”
The results of the scoping study are expected to be released in the third quarter of 2023 and will provide a base case scenario for the development of PIOP. Following a positive scoping study, Flinders intends to commence a prefeasibility study with the aim of refining capital and operating costs, plus evaluating project enhancements with an emphasis on lowering carbon emissions while creating a sustainable long-term iron-ore business.
“Over the coming 12 months, the primary aim for Flinders is to progress the various technical and financial studies for PIOP to ensure the project is producing iron-ore in 2025. We will do this in conjunction with the Traditional Owners on whose lands we work, sharing the benefits a close partnership can deliver,” said Michael.