Modern Mining November 2023

IRON ORE

Kalia – finger on the start button

Touted as the world’s sixth largest undeveloped iron ore deposit, the Kalia Iron Ore deposit, which was recently acquired by Millennium Panorama Group Limited (MPGL) subsidiary, Stella Vista, is ready for a revised bankable feasibility study (BFS) ahead of being taken up the value curve and into production. By Nelendhre Moodley .

“ W e remain highly focused on updat ing the BFS numbers as a first step, which will provide a credible develop ment plan with associated economics. Simultaneously, we are focusing our efforts on secur ing access to both rail and port infrastructure, which will underwrite the successful development of the mine,” says MD Blair Sergeant. Located in central Guinea in the Faranah Region, the Kalia project represents one of the world’s larg est iron ore reserves with an estimated 6.16 billion tonnes of magnetite. Prior to its acquisition by Stella Vista last year, the mammoth project was owned by AIM-listed Bellzone Mining, which invested over $350 million to upgrade the resource, taking the asset from a 2.4 bt resource to 3.74 bt in 2010 and to over 6 bt in 2011. In 2012, a revised BFS with incredibly robust numbers – net present value (NPV) of $7 billion, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 53% based on a 45 mpta for a 20-year Life of Mine (LoM) – was issued.

MD Blair Sergeant.

However, given that the BFS, which relied on the development of appropriate rail and port infrastruc ture, did not occur, in 2013 Bellzone revised its BFS to reflect a lower production rate of a 7 mtpa over a 10-year LOM and trucking as the new mode of mate rial transport to port. The new estimation also offered a robust IRR of 37% and a NPV of over $1.35 billion. However, the project was further hampered by the Ebola outbreak between 2014-2016.

Drilling underway at Kalia.

12  MODERN MINING  November 2023