"The railway near HAV's deposits may well be the ace up the...

"The railway near HAV's deposits may well be the ace up the sleeve"

@chrisCarter

To be efficient in iron ore, its transport must be optimised as it is a major cost component.

Being only 8 kms from the transcontinental railway, the Grants iron ore resource is the closest of all the Braemar iron ore resources to the Broken Hill to Whyalla railway.

Carpentaria Resources Limited in its March 2019 investor presentation (see below) stated that its estimated rail and port charges could be US$11.23 per dry metric tonne for its Hawsons iron project, based on a base case of 10 Mtpa exported through Port Pirie (see page 29).

Page 29 also provides CAPEX and OPEX for a potential 10 Mtpa magnetite beneficiation plant just across the border in New South Wales.

The Hawsons iron project requires a 55 km slurry pipeline to get the magnetite to a railhead at Broken Hill.

More importantly, the spare capacity on the railway from Broken Hill to Whyalla or Port Pirie is currently 12 Mtpa (see page 23 of CAP investor presentation).

Hawsons iron project is a 20 year mine life of 10 Mtpa of 70% Fe, with a payback period of 3 years and a spot Fe price case NPV₁₀ (post tax, ungeared) of US$1.8 billion.

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20190320/pdf/443n7s4pztbvhy.pdf

The Iron Road Limited 25 February 2019 presentation (see below) provides CAPEX and OPEX for a potential 12 Mtpa magnetite beneficiation plant in South Australia:

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20190225/pdf/442xbrlbp468n0.pdf

Of interest to me, Central Eyre Iron project is now proposing (see page 23 of IRD investor presentation) heavy haulage rail be replaced by high capacity dual-powered road trains operating on a private haul road at an estimated cost of A$0.05 per tonne kilometre over the 136 km route to Cape Hardy Port in South Australia. Or a concentrate transport and port charge of US$9.48 per wet metric tonne.

Central Eyre Iron is a 22 year mine life of 12 Mtpa of 66.7% Fe, with a spot Fe price case NPV₁₀ (post tax, 60% gearing) of US$1.7 billion.

Cheers

These are only my random thoughts and it does not constitute investment advice. Before acting on any information you read and before making any financial or investment decisions, you should always consult your advisor(s) or other relevant professional experts.