BC Iron Limited established a 75/25 joint venture with Fortescue Metals Group in 2009 known as the Nullagine Iron Ore Project, which is located directly north of Fortescue’s Chichester operations.
The Project currently hosts a Proved and Probable Ore Reserve of 37.2Mt at 57.1% Fe from within a Mineral Resource of 117.7Mt at 53.4% Fe. Importantly, the iron ore occurs at surface, resulting in a simple mining and crushing process and low stripping ratios. The mine life is currently estimated at 7 years with additional targeting of 15-25Mt of ore through further exploration activities.
BC Iron is the operator and manager of the Project which includes all mining activities at Nullagine and haulage of iron ore by road from the mine to Fortescue’s Ore Processing Facility at Christmas Creek. BC Iron contracts Fortescue’s subsidiary, The Pilbara Infrastructure Company, to provide rail services from Christmas Creek and port services via Port Hedland on a fixed price per tonne basis. Since April 2013, the Joint Venture has been running at an annualised production rate of 6Mpta.
Fortescue Marketing has developed the Nullagine Iron Ore Joint Venture’s own recognised brand of ore known as “Bonnie Fines”. This is a pisolite sinter blend containing low impurities, low ultra-fines and low moisture thereby improving sintering productivity at the steel mill. Sinter test work carried out in China concluded that BC Iron “Bonnie Fines” ore is able to substitute completely for Pilbara Blend, and partially for MAC and Yandi ores offering improved sintering characteristics and sinter ore quality.