(MENAFN - ProactiveInvestors - Australia) Shree Minerals (ASX:SHH) is edging closer to production from its Nelson Bay River Iron Project (NBR) in north-west Tasmania.
While waiting for Commonwealth approvals for mining to commence, the emerging iron ore producer in Tasmania has not been idle ticking off significant project development items.
With mininal CAPEX and no infrastructure CAPEX, Shree is well placed to be the next iron ore miner into production.
Re-cap NBR Project
A global iron resource of 11.3Mt at 36.1% Fe including magnetite resources and goethite-hematite resources.
Goethite-hematite Inferred Resource of 1.4Mt containing:
- 0.7Mt of Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) at an average grade of 58% Fe and
- 0.7Mt of Beneficiable goethite-hematite
Magnetite Resources of 7.8 Mt @ 38.3 DTR
- Capable of producing high-grade concentrates to produce:
- Blast Furnace (BF) Pellets
- Dense Media Magnetite (DMM)
NBR Exploration potential
There is significant upside potential as there are additional magnetic features suggesting possible Iron mineralisation:
- West of the NBR occurrence
- North of Nelson River
- An anomaly in the far south east of the licence
- An anomaly in Rebecca Creek
NBR Iron Project "DSO Mine Plan
The production schedule for the first two years comprise of mining DSO iron ore.
The DSO requires no further beneficiation to produce a marketable product. The DSO is a first, lucrative stage of mining at NBR. It involves minimal CAPEX and no infrastructure CAPEX.
Two separate DSO pits are planned in the first two years (comprising DSO South Pit and DSO North Pit, which is within the BFO resources)
Commonwealth approval
Shree said it expects a final decision from the Australian Commonwealth Government under EPBC Act, for which the final EIS has been published following response to submission received as a result of public exhibition of Draft EIS.
Management
There is a plethora of experience at Shree including:
Sanjay Loyalka, Chairman
CEO and Managing Director of Aditya Birla Minerals Ltd, (2003-08); Responsible for the acquisition of Nifty & Mount Gordon Copper mines, development of the Nifty project.
Arun Jagatramka, Director
Chairman of Gujarat NRE Coking Coal Ltd.
Mahendra Pal, Director
Responsible for the discovery of several iron ore bodies in the Hamersley basin; Mt Tom Price (Southern Batter), Paraburdoo (Lens II), Lamington, JunaDowns (MarraMamba ore) etc.
Ticking boxes at NBR
Shree has been moving forward at NBR achieving milestones on the road to production:
- Port Access: MOU with Grange Resources
- Offtake Contract: MOU with Large International Trading house
- Funding: Advanced stage of discussions with Banks for Debt Funding
- Mining Contractors/Equipment Suppliers: Advanced stage of discussions
Analysis
The NBR project will be profitable at current iron ore prices despite smaller size (v typical iron ore projects).
NBR will have accessible good infrastructure and availability of experienced labour force.
Shares on issue are tightly held at 95.9M at a Market Capitalisation of 19M. Cash in hand is 2.5M.
Proactive Investors retains its price target of 0.40 - 0.50 for Shree Minerals.
