Pilbara iron

The Flinders Mines Limited owned Pilbara Iron Ore Project (PIOP), is located 60 kilometres north west of Tom Price in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It contains two tenements; Anvil and Blacksmith. The Anvil tenement covers an area about 10 kilometres south west of the Blacksmith tenement. The Blacksmith tenement is the tenement in which Flinders Mines Limited have undertaken a Feasibility Study. It lies to the south of the Caliwingina iron ore resource owned by Rio Tinto, west of Fortescue Metal's Solomon Iron ore hub, east of the API West Pilbara Iron Ore Project and north of Rio Tinto's giant Brockman 2 open cut iron ore mining operation.

Pilbara Iron (PIOP) Could Produce 25 Million Tonnes of Iron Ore a Year

The Pilbara Iron (PIOP) has a (2004) JORC iron ore resource of 917 million tonnes grading at 55.2 percent iron. This figure has not been updated since that time to comply with the 2012 JORC Code, on the grounds nothing has changed since the last report was made to the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) in late, 2011. It has been shown the Pilbara Iron (PIOP) deposit would be capable of producing 250 million tonnes of iron ore grading at 58.5 percent iron at a rate of 25 million tonnes a year.

In early 2014, Rutila Resources and Flinders Mines, signed an Alliance Agreement that guaranteed Flinders Mines access to rail and port facilities to facilitate getting its PIOP product to world markets, as it has been planned to commence mining operation at the project site in the latter half of 2017. The Alliance Agreement signed with Rutila Resources was achieved through its subsidiary Joint Venture company, Balla Balla, which is jointly owned by New Zealand company, Todd Minerals Limited and Rutila Resources Limited. The agreement allows the production from the Pilbara Iron (PIOP) Project to fill the surplus capacity of the Balla Balla mine export facilities.

Flinders Mines Limited Started out as Flinders Diamonds Limited in 2002

The Pilbara Iron (PIOP) Project is Flinders Mines Limited's flagship asset, although it is also evaluating the potential of its Canegrass Project. Flinders Mines Limited was first listed on the ASX as Flinders Diamonds Limited in 2002, as at that time it was principally focused on exploration for diamonds. Its interest in mining iron ore occurred after it discovered it had iron ore deposits on its tenements during a drilling campaign in 2008.

The Pilbara Iron (PIOP) Project began in mid 2003 as a Joint Venture operation involving Flinders Diamonds Limited and Prenti Exploration Limited. In early 2005 the Joint Venture partners agreed with Fortescue Metals Group to swap commodity rights on some of its tenement holdings with fortescue Metals taking over the iron ore rights, however, the Blacksmith tenement was not included in this commodity swap. A tenement that was 100 percent owned by Flinders. Following the successful drilling of the Rio Tinto owned Caliwingina deposit and the nearby Fortescue owned Serenity deposit, Flinders decided to investigate its Blacksmith tenement for iron ore. By November, 2007, it had discovered an iron ore deposit of between 325 and 390 million tonnes of iron ore grading up to 60 percent iron. In mid 2008, Flinders acquired the nearby Anvil tenement ,from Cazaly Iron Pty Ltd, where it uncovered a further 476 million tonnes of iron ore grading at 55.4 percent iron. Ongoing drilling of the Anvil tenement extended this resource to 511 million tonnes. In April, 2010, Flinders announced a Resource estimate at its Delta deposit of 157 million tonnes of iron ore grading at 56.5 percent iron and a Global Mineral Resource of 550 million tonnes grading at 55.6 percent iron. This was later increased to 917 million tonnes in November, 2011.

Flinders Mines Limited has since purchased the Prenti share in the Joint Venture giving it 100 percent unencumbered ownership of the Pilbara Iron (PIOP) Project. A mining lease was granted by the Western Australian Government Department of Mines and Petroleum in March, 2012, to mine iron ore on the Blacksmith tenement. The Pilbara Iron (PIOP) Project currently hold a 2012 JORC Code Mineral Resource, of 1,042 million tonnes of iron ore grading at 55.6 percent iron.