IronClad chairman upbeat

  IronClad Mining is “well advanced” with a drilling program targeting an initial 100 million tonnes of high-quality magnetite ore at its Wilcherry Hill Project in South Australia’s Gawler Craton.IronClad Chairman, David Macoboy said the company aims to prove up the initial resource target of 100 million tonnes of coarse crystalline magnetite by the end of the current financial year.“Within the Wilcherry Hill project there is potential for 300 to 600 million tonnes of iron ore similar to the initial resource,” Mr Macoboy said.“Our drilling has also identified magnetite and hematite, which may have potential for production as direct shipping ore.“We regard this as a significant bonus from our exploration and a potential value addition for the project,” he said.Mr Macoboy said the project had already attracted a high level of interest from Chinese steelmakers, driven particularly by the quality of concentrate anticipated from Wilcherry Hill’s high-grade ore.“The Wilcherry Hill magnetite has very low levels of silica, phosphorous and other impurities, and this, combined with higher than normal magnesium oxide and calcium oxide, make it a much sought after self-fluxing ore,” he said.“In addition, high metal recoveries of over 95%, and mass recoveries of 50% and up to 75%, are significantly higher than for typical banded iron formation magnetite deposits, such as those planned for development in the Mid West of Western Australia.“These characteristics should lead to lower concentrate production costs than might apply to other magnetite ores,” he said.According to Mr Macoboy, IronClad’s strategy is to bring its high-quality coarse crystalline magnetite iron ore into production as soon as possible, to begin supplying premium grade concentrates to the rapidly growing East Asian market.