With “hematite” iron ore discoveries slowing to a trickle, billionaires and others are turning to the once-maligned poor cousin of the iron ore industry “magnetite” that comes with almost biblical scale.
With Mineral Resources turning a chapter and pulling the plug on its Yilgarn iron ore hub in Western Australia, the race for potential suitors vying for a look in at Esperance's newly-released rail and port capacity is hotting up. And the star-studded list of runners and riders positioning at the starting blocks makes for some very interesting reading.
Infinity Mining is set to hit the go button on a maiden drilling program at its Tambourah South lithium project in the east Pilbara region of WA after ASX-listed Riversgold completed a heritage survey over a contiguous tenement. The company required Riversgold to complete the work to mobilise earth moving equipment to its tenement and is now set to follow up on a suite of solid rock chip results which graded up to 2.6 per cent lithium oxide.
Infinity Mining has confirmed mineralisation of up to 6489 parts per million rubidium in rock chip assays from pegmatites at its South Tambourah project in the east Pilbara region of Western Australia. The commodity is principally used to make speciality glasses such as fibre optic cables and its discovery sets up another commercial avenue for the lithium-focused operation.
Fortescue Metals Group has continued to surprise the market with its ambitious plans, striking an agreement with Sinosteel to evaluate a magnetite mine in the Mid West and a port at Oakajee.
Subiaco-based Tao Commodities has added to the growing interest among junior mining companies in the Western Australian iron ore sector, after it signed a binding term sheet to buy DSO Mining in a scrip deal worth at least $3.27 million.
Toronto-listed Macarthur Minerals is moving forward with a proposed magnetite project in the Yilgarn, after announcing yesterday that it had chosen Aurizon as its rail haulage operator.
