Food for thought:SDL could increase the Iron Ore production from...

Food for thought:

SDL could increase the Iron Ore production from 35 to 50 million tonnes per year. I'm not surprised they could increase the target to 100 million tonnes, that represents about one third of WA's Pilbara production this year ...


Back to an article dated from 06/12/2008:

At its recent AGM, Sundance Resources Limited flagged a proposed increase in annual production up to 50 million tonnes per annum for its Mbalam Iron Ore Project in Cameroon.

Mr Don Lewis MD of Sundance Resources said that "It needs to be recognized that Mbalam is a very large, long term iron ore project. In November 2008, we announced a 0.5 billion tonne increase in Inferred Resources at the Mbarga Deposit, to a total of 2.45 billion tonnes. This makes Mbarga one of the largest known iron ore deposits in the world that is NOT controlled by a major mining group or steel producer. This is a real competitive advantage for Sundance as it offers the opportunity for the project to be a long life independent producer this is of great value to major steel producers looking to diversify their long term supply options."

He added that "As soon as we announced this increase in resources at Mbarga, we commenced a review of the optimal scale of production from the deposit. We have just completed the first phase of this review which has shown that staged production up to 50 million tonnes per annum appears achievable over the first 20 years of operations, solely from currently estimated resources at Mbarga. This still leaves scope for further increases in capacity and/or mine life as additional resources are defined, a very important point as the project has significant exploration upside with less than 0.3% of our total landholding having been drilled to date. This really is a project of world scale."

About the implications of this increase in production for the Mbalam Project's capital cost and economics, he said that "The proposed increased in production can be delivered very efficiently as it requires minimal increase in transport and export infrastructure above that already required for 35 million tonnes per annum throughput. This dramatically reduces the capital cost of the project on an annual tonne production basis. It also reduces unit operating costs and shortens the capital payback period.'