There’s no doubting the interest in the Hawsons Iron magnetite project, with the company highlighting 18 potential offtake partners.
The list is made up of 12 steel mill operators and six commodity trading houses, each of which has signed non-binding letters of intent (LOIs) for the offtake of up to 58 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of the Hawsons Supergrade (70 per cent iron) product.
LOIs from steel mill operators account for 22Mtpa of the offtake, with marketers making up the remaining 36Mtpa.
“Significantly, we have been in discussion with representatives from several parties, including global mining groups, steel mill operators and commodity traders, who have also expressed investment interest to support development of our world class Hawsons Iron project near Broken Hill, when BFS (bankable feasibility study) information is more advanced,” Hawsons managing director Bryan Granzien said.
“This level of investment interest in the project and robust offtake demand is clearly a strong demonstration that making the transition to producing zero-emission ‘green steel’ is front and centre on the global steel industry’s planning horizon and that Australia is a preferred supplier of high-grade magnetite concentrate.”
The 58Mtpa equates to nearly three times the project’s envisaged 20Mtpa production rate, which remains the end goal despite Hawsons Iron slowing work on its BFS and beginning a strategic review to evaluate scaling up production in stages. This slowdown was done in response to escalating capital expenditure costs.
“The strategic review work is narrowing the tonnage start-up and transport pathway options we have identified and the LOIs we now have in hand provide additional confidence that there is more than sufficient market demand to support a modular expansion plan to 20Mtpa,” Granzien said.
Hawsons Iron is unable to name the LOI parties due to commercial-in-confidence considerations.