Gindalbie targets major Karara expansion

Gindalbie Metals has moved to substantially expand the scope of its iron ore business....

  Gindalbie Metals has moved to substantially expand the scope of its iron ore business in Western Australia with the commencement of a Feasibility Study on increasing the start-up production rate of the Karara Magnetite Project from 8mt/annum to 12mt/annum of magnetite concentrate.The expansion plans are based on the substantial scale and exploration potential of the Karara Magnetite deposit, where an aggressive A$7m exploration program is currently underway to almost double the total Karara magnetite resource base to a targeted 2.5 billion tonnes. Gindalbie said the expansion feasibility study would not impact on the delivery of the fully-funded 8mt/annum Karara Magnetite Project, where detailed design work is well advanced.Gindalbie’s Managing Director, Garret Dixon said: “The commencement of the Expansion Feasibility Study represents the latest in a series of positive milestones for the Karara Project, following the recent finalisation of the Subscription Agreement with Ansteel for the A$534m equity funding component of the project.”“We have always emphasised the substantial opportunities to expand the project from the base case production levels defined in the September 2007 Bankable Feasibility Study,” Mr Dixon said. “Importantly, Ansteel have agreed to take all of the additional production being considered by the new Feasibility Study, and they are strongly supportive of this initiative to aggressively expand the initial scope of the Project to 12mt/annum,” he said.