Cadence Minerals (KDNC) said Macarthur Minerals has appointed two experts to enhance the delivery of the Feasibility Study for the Lake Giles Iron Project in Western Australia.
Cadence holds around 1% of the issued equity interest in Macarthur, an Australian mining exploration firm focused primarily on iron ore, nickel, lithium and gold in Western Australia.
The Group has hired the ‘highly regarded’ Dr Richard Peck as its mineral processing engineer to provide technical minerals processing support for its owners’ team, and the ‘globally recognised’ mining engineer Mr Bernard Holtshousen to provide technical and practical support to optimise the Company’s mining and development approach at Lake Giles.
Macarthur said these new appointments will provide ‘enhanced rigour’ to the study process and will ensure that the Feasibility Study is delivered within the expected timeframes.
Andrew Bruton, CEO of Macarthur Minerals said both Dr Peck and Mr Holtshousen are “highly experienced in their respective fields of minerals processing and mine engineering.”
He said they bring “enviable experience on a global scale to Macarthur” and represent “another smart step to ensure that Macarthur’s owners’ team is appropriately supported with the disciplines necessary to deliver a robust study that is capable of withstanding the rigour of technical and financial due diligence” as it moves through its project financing.
Commenting on the value of these appointments, Bruton said the most important factor in assembling the Macarthur owners' team “is to ensure that it includes experienced professionals who have overseen successful mining and magnetite processing operations.”
He said the decision to combine this expertise “is aimed at ensuring that the Macarthur owners’ team can facilitate responsible strategies and improve the efficiency of operations in the magnetite mining and processing at Lake Giles so that Management can aim to deliver the best economic value for the group’s assets for the benefit of its shareholders.”
He highlighted that Macarthur “will continue to build a world class project delivery team that is required to successfully bring the Lake Giles Iron Project out of the ground.”
The Lake Giles mineral resources include the Ularring hematite resource comprising Indicated resources of 54.5m tonnes at 47.2% of iron and Inferred resources of 26m tonnes at 45.4% of iron; and the Lake Giles magnetite resource of 53.9m tonnes, 218.7m tonnes, and 997m tonnes.
An airborne AEM survey covering an area of 970 km2 over 1322-line kilometres was recently launched to identify suitable drill targets for Macarthur to test the quantity and quality of water required to support its magnetite processing requirements at the Lake Giles project.
In a recent quarterly update, Macarthur said it is ‘well placed’ to deliver on its stated 2021 goals for Lake Giles, which includes completing a feasibility study, concluding a route-to-market contract and advancing terms of financing the project commencing 2023.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley have also held on to a bullish scenario for iron ore prices in the years ahead. In a recent report, analysts laid out a ‘plausible scenario’ of iron ore prices trading at more than $US165 per tonne ($216/tonne) for a three-year period out to 2024.
‘Global iron ore production growth will accelerate in the coming years, bringing an end to the stagnation that has persisted since iron ore prices hit a decade-low average of $55 per tonne in 2015,’ market analyst Fitch Solutions predicts within its latest industry report.
Shares in Cadence Minerals have increased by over 25% since the beginning of 2021. The stock ticked up 1.36%% higher this morning to 18.63p following the announcement.
Reasons to Follow
Amapá – 30% (once final agreement with bank creditors has been completed)
Candece plans to rehabilitate Amapá, including commissioning the studies required of bank finance, shipping of the iron ore from the stockpile and the restarting of full operations.
The historic mine plan would mean that Amapá would produce at steady-state production an estimated 4.4 Mt of 65% iron and 0.9 Mt of 62% iron per annum for approximately 14 years.
Cinovec – 16%
Cadence holds around 12% of the equity in European Metals, which, through its subsidiary, Geomet, controls the exploration licences awarded for the Czeach Cinovec Lithium Project.
Cinovec, which is the largest hard rock lithium deposit in Europe, is strategically located to produce lithium for Europe with the goal of contributing to a sustainable supply chain for a world leading centre for electric vehicle development and manufacture in Europe.
Diego Pavia, CEO of EIT InnoEnergy, said he views Cinovec as “critical” to the development of Europe's energy storage industry and in meeting the EU's climate goals of electrification of mobility and large-scale development of renewable energy storage.
Last week, the ongoing nineteen-hole resource drilling programme at the Cinovec Project returned strong drilling results. Cadence’s Chief Executive, Kiran Morzaria told investors that the encouraging results ‘serve to highlight the overall quality of the Cinovec project.’
Yangibana – 30%
Last year, Cadence unveiled ‘outstanding’ rare earth oxide grades in a report which highlighted positive drilling results at the Yangibana rare earth project in Australia, exceeding its expectations for its planned 20,000 metre 2020 exploration drill program.
Cadence, which owns 30% of three mining leases and six exploration licences which form part of the Yangibana Rare Earth Deposit, expects to advance the programme until Q420.
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