Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart and the Indian government are inching closer towards bringing a huge magnetite operation in the Central Yilgarn region to life.
Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has grown its stake in the Mt Bevan iron ore project from 30 per cent to 51 per cent following the completion of a pre-feasibility study.
The study unveiled on Tuesday revealed a cost of $5 billion to get the mine up and running with a “mid-point” net present value of nearly $1.7b.
Iron ore projects in WA typically involve mining hematite ore instead of magnetite ore. Magnetite has more impurities than hematite so requires additional treatment, but the trade-off is that the final product is higher-grade.
Legacy Iron Ore — controlled by the Indian government’s National Mineral Development Corporation — owns 29.4 per cent of the Mt Bevan venture and fellow ASX-listed junior Hawthorn Resources has the remaining 19.6 per cent.
Over the past couple of years Mrs Rinehart has strengthened business and political ties with India.
The magnetite churned out of Mt Bevan will likely be destined for the steel mills of India instead of the traditional iron ore customer — China.
In a statement, Hancock said the completion of the Mt Bevan PFS is a significant milestone.
“The technical outcomes from the work done are positive and further work is being undertaken to optimise the design and costs for supply of power, transport of iron ore product from mine site to a port for export of the product and identification of water sources required for processing and production of the concentrates,” the company said.
“However, Australian government tape and the approvals process in Australia add uncertainty to the project, despite its technical merit.”