"...Savage River is the only operating magnetite iron ore...

"...Savage River is the only operating magnetite iron ore operation in Australia, despite many companies proposing magnetite projects in the last iron ore boom...."

From memory, I think Cairn Hill did pretty well (for a while at least).

I lost track of that project, but a quick google reveals that the project has been picked up by an unlisted company who produced for a while and are intending to resume production.

"The Cairn Hill Project is one of only two iron ore producers in South Australia. It produced and exported one million tonnes of iron ore in a little over its first year of operation.

Production was paused late in 2017 to allow for approvals to be granted and construction work to be undertaken on upgraded infrastructure at the site, which will include a Wet Processing Plant, worker accommodation village and power station.

When mine production resumes, the plan is to produce 3 million tonnes of ore annually (3Mtpa) from Cairn Hill, with a long term goal of producing 15Mtpa (subject to approvals) when additional nearby resources are brought into production."

Source: http://www.curiver.com.au/operations/

That may well be the sort of model that can work for HAV too. (Particularly if they can get a partner to foot the bills)

I also recall an article posted by Clark888 in which it was stated by Chris Giles that the initial approach to HAV by CMC was in relation to HAV's iron ore project.

“I had been aware of CMC and the Radford family for many years but had never met Steve Radford or his father Gary. Out of the blue Steve, CMC’s owner, called and said he would like to meet because a colleague was interested in iron ore and wanted to talk about our prospect. We discussed this but the timing was not good for iron ore … and still isn’t."

Source: http://asiaminer.com/features/7442-unique-partnership-brings-portia-to-life.html

When Chris Giles refers to the timing being "not good", I think he's probably referring to the then prevailing price environment, but he could equally have been referring to the regulatory hurdles every project needs to jump before you can start producing.

At that stage, I'm guessing, they were very far from getting all the necessary approvals & that's why I think it's a pretty good idea to be moving these projects forward as best they can so as the next time someone knocks on the door regarding HAV's iron ore projects, they can be in a better position to seize the opportunity.