Name and Location
Buckland iron-ore project, Western Pilbara, Australia.

Client
Iron Ore Holdings (IOH).

Project Description
A prefeasibility study (PFS) on the Buckland project has confirmed the technical and financial viability of a four-million- to eight-million-ton-a-year mining operation from the Bungaroo South deposit, transport by private haul roads and shipping through a transshipment facility at Cape Preston East.

The project is underpinned by a 269-million-ton Joint Ore Resource Committee- (Jorc-) compliant mineral resource and an initial 92-million-ton Jorc-compliant ore reserve, with an average grade of 57.6% iron.

Ore will be mined from the Bungaroo South mining lease, which includes the Western pit, the two Eastern pits and the Dragon pit.

For the first two-and-half years, ore will be mined from above the water table at a nominal rate of four-million tons a year.

As mining progresses, the ore will be extracted from below the water table and the production rate will be increased to eight-million tons of product.

The dry processing flowsheet is a conventional direct-shipping-ore-style crush and screen plant, while the wet processing flowsheet is based on a standard deslime concept.

Wet processing will have a major positive impact on the overall product quality, with a 58% iron product targeted.

At an initial production rate of four-million tons a year, ore will be hauled by using a mix of public and private roads over a distance of 190 km, with 115 t payload road train combinations under a concessional loading scheme.

At the eight-million-ton-a-year production level, transport will be by means of a 200 t payload off-road truck combination.

As 200 t truck payloads are not permitted on public roads, a 70 km infill road section will be created, resulting in about 195 km of private road from mine to port.

Based on relatively shallow marine conditions in the area, IOH proposes the development of a modest-scale barging facility, which does not involve channel dredging.

It is proposed that the transshipping will be done with a large 15 000-t-capacity self-powered vessel with self-unloading capability.

Front-end loaders will reclaim ore from port stockpiles and deliver it into a landside loading bin.

Conveyors will link the landside facilities with a barge loader at the ocean side of a 1.4 km A-frame finger jetty.

Value
The capital cost to four-million tons is $575-million and to eight-million tons $235-million tons.

Duration
Construction is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2013 and production in the first quarter of 2015.

Latest Developments
On the basis of the positive technical and financial results of the PFS, IOH has approved the project to proceed to feasibility study phase, with a funding process to start simultaneously.

Extensive value engineering will occur during the feasibility study to optimise capital cost estimates.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
IOH, tel +61 8 9483 2000, fax +61 8 9321 0322 or email info@ironoreholdings.com.