Grange Resources has today appointed AMEC Minproc to carry out a review of the Southdown magnetite project near Albany, which will lay down the foundation for a prefeasibility study later this year.
The Southdown project, with an overall JORC resource of 654 million tonnes magnetite, is well advanced having received its mining permit last November and the Environmental Protection Authority recommending approval for the associated port development in January of this year.
Southdown is being developed through a 70:30 joint venture between Grange and Sojitz Resources and Technology Pty Ltd.
Grange chief executive Russell Clark said that Grange was very pleased to have appointed a very capable engineering company, with specialist magnetite expertise, to undertake a review of the work done to date.
"In short order, we will establish what is required to complete the pre-feasibility study for the project by year end and have assembled an owners' team to compliment the engineering team undertaking the work. We are very fortunate in this regard, having access to very experienced personnel at our existing magnetite operation at Savage River in Tasmania," said Mr Clark.
"The Southdown Project has an excellent, high quality resource and is particularly well placed from an infrastructure perspective. We have targeted the project to have a production rate of 6.8 million tonnes per annum and the ore body lends itself very well to higher levels of production. The outcome of the review and further studies will provide additional information on production opportunities."
