Mt caudan

The Parker Range ñ Mt Caudan Iron Ore (DSO) Project, is located about 15 kilometres south east of Marvel Loch and 52 kilometres south of Southern Cross, within the Shire of Yilgarn, in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.

Parker Range ñ Mt Caudan Project being Developed by Cazaly Resources Limited

The project is wholly owned, and being developed, by Cazaly Resources Limited, an Australian diversified resource and mineral exploration company, based in Perth, that was first listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in October, 2003. Cazaly Resources acquired 100 percent ownership of the Mt Caudan iron ore tenement part of the Parker Range Project, in August, 2009. At the time the iron ore resource estimate at the Mt Caudan deposit totaled 35 million tonnes grading at 55.4 percent iron, an amount sufficient to sustain an open cut mine producing between two and four million tonnes of iron ore a year.

In order to progress the project, Cazaly Resources, began discussions with private railway company, Westnet Rail, and soon after signed a memorandum of understanding with the state owned Esperance Port Authority to confirm the port could meet the company's iron ore export requirement.

Mt Caudan Mine to be Developed as a Conventional Open Pit Mining Operation

The Parker Range ñ Mt Caudan iron ore mine is proposed to be developed in a conventional manner by the usual open pit hard rock mining methods, capable of producing up to 4.6 million tonnes of single fines annually after the initial two years, that would give the mine a life of between eight and nine years, based on the latest reported mineable JORC Resource figures. It is estimated the mine would produce around 31 million tonnes of waste rock during its productive years.

Despite the development of the Parker Range ñ Mt Caudan iron ore project suffering necessary delays owing to the continually depressed global iron ore market, Cazaly Resources have continued with its intention to commence with the physical development of the project. To this end, the company, in 2015, completed a DFS (Definitive Feasibility Study) regarding the project and successfully obtained all the necessary approvals for the project to move to the construction stage of development.

Yilgarn Esperance Solution Limited to Design, Build and Operate a Storage and Loading Facility at Esperance Port

Yilgarn Esperance Solution Limited, a group headed by Asciano Limited, an Australian based logistics firm that operates shipping and railway freight services which resulted from the 2007 demerging of Toll Holdings, has been appointed to design, construct and operate a multi-user iron ore facility at the Port of Esperance, however, this too has stalled, because of the depressed iron ore market.

Cazaly Resources Limited had arranged, in 2011, to use the accommodation village situated at Marvel Loch, which is located just 15 kilometres from the project site, to house its Parker Range ñ Mt Caudan fly-in-fly-out workforce, as well as having reached an agreement to use the existing Moorine Rock rail load out facility, to facilitate transporting the iron ore to the port for export.

Hematite Ore Body Located at Mt Caudan in the Early 1900's

Following its discovery in the early 1900's, the hematite iron ore deposit at Mt Caudan was seen as having value as flux rather than steel making. An effort was made to develop a mine there at the time but plans were thwarted with the advent of the Boer War in South Africa. Diamond drilling of the deposit was carried out in 1912 after the Kings Cairn Company was established in Perth, a year earlier. Exploration occurred again between 1965 and 1969 focusing on a 11 kilometres strike zone.

In 2008, a Joint Venture operation involving Cazaly Resources Limited and Gondwana Resources, carried out further exploration work on the Parker Range Mt Caudan iron ore deposit. Mt Caudan exists as a ridge running north and south that rises to a height of around 100 metres above the rest of the countryside. The project site exists as a clearing on the south side of the Parker Range Road three kilometres east of the Marvel Loch/Forrestania Road intersection. No mining has been carried out at the site to date.