Hawsons Iron has signed a two-year option agreement to purchase three blocks of land at Myponie Point in South Australia, further solidifying the export pathway for its namesake iron ore project.
Under the agreement, Hawsons Iron will have the right to purchase the three blocks land totalling 1000 acres for $14 million at any time within two years of the execution date.
It comes after the company executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Flinders Ports, which would see the latter finance, construct, own and operate the Myponie Point port, reducing the Hawsons Iron project’s capital requirements in the process.
“This agreement secures a crucial export site required for the planning and development of our 20Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) project and importantly provides significant additional space to accommodate expansion of the Myponie Point port into a multi-user, bulk commodity export facility,” Hawsons Iron managing director Bryan Granzien said.
“Now that we have identified our port location, planning and detailed design work can continue on the deep-water port facility and the underground slurry pipeline from Broken Hill, including all approvals and land access agreements along the 392km pipeline route.”
The Myponie Point port is expected to be ready to start exporting Hawsons’ unique 70 per cent iron (Fe) Supergrade magnetite product by the second half of 2024.
On Thursday, Hawsons Iron announced its board had endorsed the larger of the two development options for its namesake project, citing superior economics and investor appeal.
This will see the company focus solely on developing its 20Mtpa option initially outlined in February, in place of the previously proposed 10Mtpa pathway.
Hawsons remains on track to release its bankable feasibility study (BFS) in December 2022, paving the way for first production in the second half of 2024.