Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Cashmere In Talks With China After Billion-Tonne Iron Ore find

A small West Australian iron explorer has announced it has discovered what could be the single biggest find of iron ore in the state’s Midwest region.

Cashmere Iron yesterday reported results of exploration studies from its project south east of Sandstone, about 480 kilometres east of Geraldton, confirming a combined haematite and magnetite deposit in excess of one billion tonnes, and there could be a lot more there with the current resource representing less than 15 per cent of the banded iron formations in their Cashmere Downs tenements.

Chairman, David Hendrie, says there could be as much as eight billion tonnes in the find, which is contained in a 7.5 kilometre stretch of banded iron ridges and that it has the potential to be the largest single deposit within the Mid West.

Cashmere has already spoken to developers of the Oakajee rail project. "To get up to full capacity you're looking at about a four to five year timeline, so we're realistically hoping that all fits in with the completion of Oakajee and the infrastructure railway lines," he said.

Meanwhile Mr Hendrie today announced that the unlisted Cashmere has been in talks with Chinese steel mills and with potential investors in Asia and the UK. “There are numerous entities that have been in discussions with us over the last 12 months,” David he said. “We expect those discussions to now advance quite quickly.”
The company is looking at listing its shares later this year but has not ruled out joint ventures or stake sales. Mr Hendrie declined to say how much Cashmere intends to raise from the flotation.

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