Posted on 30 Aug 2024
Prospective Swedish iron ore miner Nordic Iron Ore plans to start construction of its Blötberget iron ore mine at the end of 2025, with the earliest start of mining currently expected during 2028.
Production will then gradually increase to an expected annual volume of approximately 1.6 million tonnes of ultra high-grade iron ore concentrate.
The time plan assumes that the Land and Environmental Court approves the application for the extension working time and that there are no permit changes.
The firm aims to complete bankable feasibility study (BFS) work by the second quarter of 2025 and in parallel carry out the planned exploration programme. Project financing is expected to be secured by the second half of 2025.
“We have previously presented exciting exploration results regarding rare earth elements and are hopeful that an extended exploration and addition mineral studies will make it possible to extract a by-product concentrate with high levels of phosphorus and rare earth elements. It is also possible that this extraction can be done from existing sand reservoirs from previous mining operations. These important metals can form a future complement to the company’s iron ore products,” the miner says in a note seen by Kallanish.
Conducted magnetic measurements suggest that the mineralisation at the Blötberget deposit continues in a north-easterly direction as well as below the identified mineral resource. If exploration is successful in these areas, the firm is hopeful to identify an additional 35 million tonnes in addition to today’s assets.
In the second quarter, Nordic Iron Ore completed a directed share issue of approximately SEK 163 million ($15.9m) before transaction costs.
Last year, Nordic Iron Ore and Cargill Metals entered into an offtake agreement for 25mt of iron ore concentrate from the Blötberget mine. The collaboration includes conditional funding commitments from Cargill, in total amounting to SEK 307m. In April, Swedish authorities confirmed they have no objection to Cargill owning more than 10% of the shares in Nordic Iron Ore.
Source:Kallanish
