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South Australian government approves IronClad's Lucky Bay port facility VALERINA CHANGARATHIL THE ADVERTISER DECEMBER 03, 2013 9:13AM
IRONCLAD will accelerate financial negotiations to begin mining at Wilcherry Hill on the Eyre Peninsula after securing approval for its port export facility at Lucky Bay, near Cowell.
The common-user export facility was approved by Planning Minister John Rau on Friday, IronClad and joint venture partner Trafford Resources (20 per cent stake) announced today.
IronClad needs to raise $22 million to start its first stage iron ore exports - including up to $7 million for the facility.
IronClad said talks have "been underway for some time" with a number of parties.
The first phase of the Wilcherry Hill mining operation currently has a reserve of 2.9 million tonnes of ore and comprises shallow, direct shipping ore.
The company aims to start development once financing is in place, with construction to take about five months.
Exploration work to build a case for a more intensive, second phase of mining will be undertaken simultaneously.
IronClad described the port approval as the "government green light" for the mine.
The proposed facility, 150 kilometres south of the mine, near Kimba, will be used to store and ship iron ore to an offshore vessel using a loading system the explorer has developed.
"This is a significant milestone in the history of this Company," IronClad Mining managing director Robert Mencel said.
"We now have all the regulatory approvals in place which allows us to commence of the Wilcherry Hill Iron Ore Project.
"With the last link of the infrastructure chain now completed - we can now accelerate and finalise our current financial negotiations to ensure the project commences as soon as practical."
Iron ore will be transported by road to a bulk storage facility about 1km from the common-user export facility, where it will then be loaded into covered containers before being road-transported to Lucky Bay and loaded by crane onto barges.
Tugs will then transport the barges to a trans-shipment point about 5.5 nautical miles out to sea where another barge equipped with crane will transfer the containerised ore into the export vessel moored alongside the crane barge.
Once in the hold of the vessel, each container is then tipped upside down by the crane to empty its contents. A dust suppression system on the vessel will control dust emissions.
"We are also confident the multi-user facility will provide an important export point not only for us, but other potential mining companies and exporters in the region," Mr Mencel said.
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