On January 29, London Mining, the UK-based developer of mines to supply the global steel industry, announced its plans to start work on potentially expanding the output at its Marampa iron-ore project in Sierra Leone to between 5 million mt and 8 million mt per annum.
According to the announcement, London Mining has initiated negotiations with Australian global resource company Ausenco to undertake a preliminary technical study to better define the economic potential of an expanded operation. In addition, London Mining has completed 2,700 m of drilling on the Masaboin and Ghafal primary ore deposits and plans a further 6,000 m drilling in 2010. This work is intended to allow an initial estimate to be reported in accordance with the JORC Code for the primary ore resource and for a prefeasibility study to be completed by the end of 2010.
"Marampa is London Mining's leading project based on its stage of development, sizable production volume potential, excellent logistics and technical simplicity. The partial tailings resource allows Marampa to commence production quickly and start generating cash flow from which we can expand iron ore concentrate production from tailings to 3 million mt per annum prior to commencing production from the primary ore. It also allows us to accelerate the construction of infrastructure for the enlarged operation based on the primary ore body," London Mining CEO Graeme Hossie stated.