| Iron
Ore, Vanadium and Precious Metals Projects, Canada
19.5% equity interest
In December 2010 the Company made a US$7.90 million investment
followed by a further US$4.91 million in March 2011 in Ironstone,
a private Canadian company which owns the Clear Hills Iron
Ore/Vanadium Project ("Clear Hills") in Alberta,
Canada.
Currently the Clear Hills NI 43-101 compliant resources are
categorised as follows:
Indicated: 557 million tonnes iron, with
an average grade of 33 per cent of iron 1.45 billion pounds
of vanadium (as vanadium pentoxide)
Inferred: 96 million tonnes of iron, with
an average grade of 33 per cent of iron
Ironstone is continuing its work on defining the Hatch-Ironstone
Chloride Segregation process for the Clear Hills Project.
Pilot testing has been completed through ore preparation,
calcination, iron reduction and iron segregation stages of
the process flow sheet development with very encouraging results.
Work at Hazen Research (Golden, CO) is currently focused on
the mineral processing segment of the flowsheet in advance
of piloting the process on commercial scale equipment.
Results from some iron reduction tests suggest an alternative
process should be investigated that may potentially reduce
both capital and operating costs, and shorten the development
timeline to commercial start-up. Some preliminary testing
to determine the technical feasibility of this alternative
process is being conducted.
Following the positive results from the continuous pilot
process campaign at Hazen Research achieved in the last quarter,
Ironstone will be commissioning a PEA ahead of the major pre-commercial
processing pilot campaign at FL Smidth (Bethlehem, PA), proposed
for the second quarter 2014.
Ironstone is planning to conduct a limited coal drilling
programme in Q1 2015 to delineate and map the lignite coal
deposit in the Clear Hills. The coal is an important carbon
source for the direct reduction of iron oxide into metallic
iron. The company is collaborating with North American Coal
Corp. (www.nacoal.com) which has entered into an option agreement
to lend its expertise in coal development, mine planning and
eventual contract mining operations.
Ironstone’s management and resource team travelled
to Asia in November 2013 to exhibit at the China Mining Conference.
The company also participated in three investor forums in
China and Japan in collaboration with Alberta Energy department
officials. The forums were hosted by Canadian Embassy trade
officials in Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. Strong interest
was shown in Ironstone’s Clear Hills project, specifically
in how its products are targeted to China’s eventual
move to less polluting electric furnace steel-making and the
country’s recent emphasis on renewable energy development.
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