US Company, High Power Exploration Inc (“HPX”), has announced that it has completed technical due diligence on the St John River iron ore licenses in Liberia and will now move to complete financial close of the acquisition during this quarter.
The St John River iron ore licenses is the subject of an acquisition agreement with Intra Ferrous Pte. Ltd signed in December 2023.
HPX’s technical team completed extensive review work and a site visit in early February to review the assets.
During the site visit the HPX geological team identified significant showings of Banded Iron Formations (BIF), which supports the Companies view of the prospectivity of the licences.
The St John River licences are strategically located within the proposed The Liberty Corridor and previous work completed by the United States Geological Survey (“USGS”) identified a potential exploration target of 650 million tonnes of up to 58% Fe.
The St. John River iron ore licences are highly prospective, and with the extensive exploration experience and success within the HPX group, the Company is looking forward to implementing an active exploration program to advance the St John River projects.
HPX has also significantly advanced the Liberty Corridor Development Agreement with the Liberty Corridor Steering Committee as well as completing technical due diligence on the St John River assets.
With the first meeting of the Steering Committee held on 28 February 2024 members of the Steering Committee have been working to finalise a Development Agreement between the parties that can be presented to the Liberian Government’s Inter-Ministerial Concessions Committee for finalization, approval by the President of Liberia and ratification by the Liberian Legislature.
Over the last six months significant work has also been completed by the Nimba Project Technical Team that has focused on streamlining the project, reducing the proposed capital required for development of Phase 1 and increasing available resources.
These significant project advances include; commencement of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for Phase 1 mine development; completion of a contract tender process for mining, processing and hauling for Phase 1 which is updating the 2021 feasibility study to generate a JORC compliant reserve including technical updates to geology, geotechnical and metallurgical data; identification of a super high-grade zone in Phase 1 comprising 20 million tonnes at 68% Fe – a high quality product that will attract significant pricing premium; simplification of Phase 1 Mining Flowsheet to remove complexity and reduce capex. Anticipated capex to bring Phase 1 into full production circa US$100 million; potential to increase the project resources by 300 Mt across Phase 1 & 2 with mine plan and scheduling improvements taking the mine life past 25 years at 30Mtpa rate; reduction of overall capex required for the Phase 2, 30 Mtpa to US$1.9 billion.
This reduction of US$375 million President and CEO of HPX Bronwyn Barnes commented; “HPX is pleased to have completed technical due diligence on the St John River licences in Liberia and will now move to financial close of the proposed acquisition. As we continue to grow the Company’s asset base in West Africa, we look forward to expanding our presence in Liberia with the completion of this acquisition.”
“We have continued to advance the development of the Nimba Iron Ore Project in Guinea and planned export of ore through Liberia. For the past 6 months our project team has been focused on ensuring our Nimba Phase 1 will be a low capital intensive start-up phase that will be able to ramp up to full production of 30 million tonnes per annum over a 5 year period,” CEO Barnes expressed.
The CEO stated that, “With the tender process for construction of Phase 1 finalised in late 2023, we will be announcing shortly the successful contractor.”
Guinean-based environmental consultancy, Insuco, was retained last year to support HPX with our Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (“ESIA”).
A review of the extensive historic data base on environmental and social baseline data has been completed along with a number of site visits and meeting with local communities and stakeholders with very positive feedback.
She outlined that the local community is keen to see work commence on the ground and HPX is preparing to submit a full ESIA to the Guinean Ministry during 2024 and noted, “I will shortly be meeting with the Chairman of The National Investment Commission (NIC) of Liberia, who also Chairs the Inter-Ministerial Concession Committee (IMCC) that would negotiate and progress our Concession and Access Agreements to export material from the Nimba iron ore project in Guinea through Liberia in the short term, while developments on the Liberty Corridor advance.”
“Whilst in Liberia, I will also be holding meetings with other key Ministers who sit on the IMCC as well as attending the second meeting of the Liberty Corridor Steering Committee where HPX will present the final draft of the Development Agreement for review and approval by the Committee,” the HPX boss assured.
Once the Development Agreement is approved, this will commence the feasibility study process for the Liberty Corridor, CEO boss Barnes expressed and added, “To date, HPX has received a significant number of enquiries from international investors, contractors and Liberians all keen to become involved with this important national infrastructure. I look forward to keeping all parties updated as we progress through the next important phases.”
The St. John River iron ore licenses in central Liberia, previously held by BHP, encompass a combined total area of almost 250 km2, giving HPX a significant presence in Liberia, complementing its Nimba Lola iron ore project in Guinea.
The St John River North and South tenements have had limited exploration activity; however, historical mapping work completed by the United States Geological Survey (“USGS”) at the properties demonstrated significant showings of Banded Iron Formations (“BIF”), supporting an iron ore resource exploration target of approximately 650 million tonnes.
No material exploration work has been conducted on these properties since the original mapping work in the 1960s.
HPX has in place a well credentialled and experienced exploration and development team and is now considering an exploration strategy for the licences that will seek to fast track resource identification.
The strategic positioning of the properties along the proposed Liberty multiuser infrastructure corridor, based around the existing Yekapa, Buchanan rail line makes the St John River licences key growth assets for HPX and will provide economic benefits to Liberia through regional industry growth and commodity revenue.
Meanwhile, the transactions are subject to ongoing customary confirmatory due diligence.
HPX is an American exploration and development company focused on advancing its high-grade long-life iron ore mine in the Lola region of the Southeastern region of the Republic of Guinea.
HPX’s major shareholder and technology provider is I-Pulse Inc, a US Company founded and Chaired by Mr Robert Friedland and has a number of high profile American institutional and private investors as shareholders.
