Rogetta

The Rogetta magnatite iron ore project is located near the north westTasmanian village of Hampshire, 30 kilometres south of Burnie, along the Rogetta Road that branches off the Upper Natone Road.

Forward Mining Acquire Rogetta Project from Red River and Mountain Mining

The Rogetta project is being proposed by Forward Mining Limited, a junior mining company that acquired the Rogetta lease when it took over the Blythe River project from Mountain Mining Limited and Red River Resources in 2012.

Rogetta Mine to Employ up to 100 Permanent Employees

Forward Mining Limited announced in March, 2015, that it was seeking approval from the Tasmanian Government to allow it to construct all the necessary infrastructure that includes a processing plant, waste rock dump and a tailings storage dam, in order to mine and process iron ore from the Rogetta project site and have it transported to the port at Burnie for export.

The mine, that would be operated as an open cut mine, would be designed to produce one million tonnes of iron ore a year for seven years. It is currently planned to have construction start at the Rogetta magnatite mine in 2016 with iron ore production commencing early in 2017. Up to 200 jobs would be created during the construction stage and around 100 permanent jobs will be available once production starts.

Rogetta Mine Magnatite Readily Refined Into Iron ore Concentrate

Magnatite iron ore, that is to be mined at the Rogetta mine once it becomes operational, has properties that enable it to to be easily refined into iron ore concentrate. It is also suitable for processing into iron ore pellets that are useful in today's steel mills. Magnatite iron ore currently accounts for about 50 percent of the world's iron ore production. Magnatite is accepted around the world as a viable high quality feedstock in the production of low impurity, premium quality steel.

The processing of Rogetta mine magnatite will require crushing, screening, grinding and magnetic separation before it is filtered and dried into a final high grade magnatite concentrate containing more than 65 percent iron.

The concentrate will require further processing that involves thermal and agglomeration treatment to create pellets. It is the pellets that can be used in a direct reduction steel plant, or a blast furnace.

Rogetta Mine to be an Open cut Operation

Forward Mining Limited is an Australian owned publically unlisted mining company that will fully own and operate the Rogetta iron ore mine. The company initially plans to only develop the one open pit. Forward Mining Limited is currently seeking approval from both the state and federal governments to progress the development of the Rogetta project.

Blythe River Iron ore Discovered in 1891

Iron ore was discovered in the Blythe River area in 1891. Mining leases over the area were acquired by Blythe River Iron Mines Limited about 1900 but were relinquished in 1926. Blythe River Mines carried out prospecting in the form of trenching and adits during their period of owning the tenements, it also quarried around 1,000 tonnes from the site and began construction of a rail spur line linking its operation to the government line at the mouth of the Blythe River, a distance of around 10 or 12 kilometres. The line was never completed.