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Fortescue's exploration and acquisitions program has been highly aggressive from its inception. The Company spent $170m during its first exploration program, which commenced at Mt Nicholas in late 2003 and concluded at Christmas Creek and Cloudbreak at the end of 2005. In that period, for four consecutive quarters, Fortescue was recorded as the highest spending exploration company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Almost 9,000 holes for 370km of drilling sample were drilled during the exploration program at Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek.
In the Chichester Range project sites, Fortescue has estimated a reserve of 1.6 billion tonnes (Bt) from the total resource of 2.2Bt, which includes 143 million tonnes (Mt) of proved and 1.48Bt of probable reserves, as classified under the JORC code. Fortescue's first mine site, Cloudbreak, commenced production in May 2008 and Christmas Creek came on line in April 2009.
Christmas Creek Reserves
|
Category |
Mt |
Fe % |
SiO2 % |
Al2O3% |
P % |
LOI % |
|
High Grade |
Proved |
3.4 |
61.5 |
2.87 |
2.03 |
0.036 |
5.85 |
|
Probable |
390.8 |
60.5 |
3.26 |
1.96 |
0.053 |
7.14 |
|
Rocket |
Probable |
603.0 |
57.5 |
5.06 |
2.74 |
0.055 |
7.72 |
|
Total |
|
997.0 |
58.7 |
4.35 |
2.44 |
0.055 |
7.49 |
Cloudbreak Reserves
|
Category |
Mt |
Fe % |
SiO2 % |
Al2O3% |
P % |
LOI % |
|
High Grade |
Proved |
91.0 |
60.6 |
2.81 |
1.63 |
0.050 |
8.09 |
|
Probable |
216.0 |
60.6 |
3.17 |
1.94 |
0.055 |
7.59 |
|
Rocket |
Proved |
47.0 |
57.9 |
4.90 |
2.28 |
0.056 |
8.61 |
|
Probable |
274.0 |
57.8 |
4.60 |
2.58 |
0.066 |
8.24 |
|
Total |
|
628.0 |
59.14 |
3.87 |
2.20 |
0.059 |
7.95 |
Since 2006, Fortescue's exploration focus has shifted west. After preliminary assessment of a wide range of areas within Fortescue's landholding, the Solomon area, which is about 70km north of Tom Price, was selected as the next prime area for attention. Following target definition work and after securing all necessary approvals, drill evaluation commenced in June 2007.
Drilling within the Solomon area has shown the presence of significant volumes of the three classic Pilbara iron ore deposit types; Channel Iron Deposits (CID), Bedded Iron Deposits (BID) and Detrital Iron Deposits (DID). Optimisation and expansion plans have recently been strengthened by an upgrade of the total resource estimate 2.2 billion tonnes (56% Fe) in the Solomon Project Area (1 billion tonnes from Serenity, in Solomon West; and 1.2 billion tonnes from Solomon East).
Solomon Inferred Resource Estimate
|
Serenity Inferred Resource Estimate |
|
Ore Type |
Mt |
Fe % |
SiO2% |
Al2O3% |
P % |
LOI % |
|
Total Tonnes |
1,014 |
56 |
7.3 |
3.8 |
0.081 |
8.06 |
|
Including |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upper CID |
337 |
56.7 |
6.3 |
2.9 |
0.079 |
9.2 |
|
Solomon East Inferred Resource Estimate |
|
Ore Type |
Mt |
Fe % |
SiO2% |
Al2O3% |
P % |
LOI % |
|
Indicated Resources |
552 |
56.4 |
6.98 |
2.89 |
0.059 |
8.91 |
|
Inferred Resources |
658 |
56.3 |
6.57 |
3.02 |
0.079 |
8.77 |
|
Total Tonnes |
1210 |
56.3 |
6.75 |
2.96 |
0.069 |
8.83 |
|
Including |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Firetail BID |
125 |
59.5 |
4.9 |
2.6 |
0.119 |
6.5 |
|
Upper CID |
421 |
56.5 |
6.28 |
1.98 |
0.047 |
10.22 |
Total resource estimate for all Fortescue project sites = 4.8 billion tonnes of inferred, indicated and measured resources.
The Chichester and Solomon discoveries have been made after exploration of less than 20 per cent of Fortescue's ever-growing tenement portfolio. Since July 2003, total tenement holdings in the Pilbara region have grown from 487km2 to around 71,400km2, spanning an area more than three times larger than those of the nearest competitor. Such a large tenement portfolio provides significant scope for the discovery of yet more resources and reserves in the future.
Current Activites
A program of close-space drilling on the Firetail prospect in the Solomon Project Area is in progress in order to upgrade the current Inferred Resources to Indicated or Measured Resources. This program is expected to increase the total Firetail resource to about 250Mt.
The long term objective of the exploration team is to build a resource and reserve base that will underwrite Fortescue's growth strategy for many decades to come. With so much of its vast tenement area still to be explored, together with the opportunity to bolster existing resource and reserve portfolios across the Chichester and Solomon areas, the team is strongly motivated and confident of achieving this goal.
Key:
|
Mt |
|
|
Million Tonnes |
|
Fe |
|
|
Iron |
|
SiO2 |
|
|
Silica |
|
Al2O3 |
|
|
Aluminium |
|
P |
|
|
Phosphorous |
|
LOI |
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Loss on Ignition* | * Loss on ignition measures the weight of loss as materials are heated to 1000oC.
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