South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has accepted Aim-listed Ironveld’s subsidiary company Luge Prospecting and Mining’s mining right application in respect of vanadiferous-titaniferous magnetite (VTM) over the farms Luge 697 LR and Non Plus Ultra 683 LR.
Luge is the holder of prospecting rights, originally granted in 2016, over the farms and, in November 2020, submitted a mining right application for VTM which outcrops on the farms.
Following completion of the standard environmental and water-use licence work, as well as community engagement, it is expected that the mining right will be granted in the second half of this year.
The area covered by the farms has outcropping main magnetite layer ore which is an extension of and identical to the VTM ore found on the company’s existing Lapon and HW Iron properties.
Once the mining right is granted, it is slated to increase the company’s main magnetite mineral resource by about 20%, taking the outcrop length from about 28 km to about 33 km.
In addition, the farms also have an extensive outcropping mineral resource of “layer 21 VTM”, estimated by the company to be 200-million tonnes of opencastable resource. While this is lower in vanadium grade than the main magnetite layer, it is a significantly wider reef and mining costs will be lower, the company notes.
Meanwhile, on March 30, the company announced that it was in talks with a South African investor seeking to take a substantial strategic equity stake at the listed company level.
It notes that while progress on the transaction has taken longer than initially expected, positive discussions have continued and the directors remain optimistic that a deal can soon be concluded.
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