Richmond Mining on track to complete permitting for Buena Vista Iron Ore Project in Nevada

Richmond Mining (ASX: RHM) has been granted a Special Use Permit by Pershing County in Nevada, USA, to construct extensive infrastructure for the Buena Vista Iron Ore Project.

With this, the project remains well on track to complete all of its permitting requirements on schedule.

The company’s wholly owned US subsidiary, Nevada Iron LLC, was given approval by the Pershing County Planning Commission in a unanimous vote of support.

Nevada Iron can now proceed with plans to construct 25 miles (40 kilometres) of electrical transmission lines, 25 miles of slurry pipeline, a dewatering plant and railroad loading facility at Colado Junction.

This infrastructure is in support of the proposed iron ore mining operations at the Buena Vista Mine located in northern Churchill County, Nevada. The Churchill County Planning Commission had previously approved its own Special Use Permit for the project.

Nevada Iron has now received approval from both Counties with planning jurisdiction for the project. These are in addition to Nevada Iron's approval from the State of Nevada to use up to 1,750 acre feet of water annually (2.16 million cubic metres per year) and the recent approval from the Nevada Division of Wildlife for wildlife protection at the tailings facility.

The project is expected to bring 150 jobs to the region and there was no public opposition to the application.

The Buena Vista Feasibility Study received last month, which is based solely on accessing ore from the West deposit, investigated producing 1.75 Mtpa (million wet tonnes per annum) of concentrate for an initial 10 years of operation.

Importantly the mine will be the producer of a high grade iron ore concentrate with very low impurities, assaying 66-69% Fe; 1.5-4.5% SiO2; <1% Al2O3; 0.003% P; and 0.003% S.

The concentrate will be sent via a 40 km slurry pipeline to a rail siding located at Colado Junction, 10 km northeast of Lovelock, and then transported by rail to a Port in the San Francisco Bay/Delta Region of California.

The existing resources and known exploration targets have the potential to significantly expand the Project’s life past the initial 10 years. This potential should underpin a long-life operation at Buena Vista.

The Feasibility Study at the West Deposit delivered:

- Capital cost of US$161 million;
- IRR of 41% (using a conservative average FOB concentrate price for the initial 10 years of US$110);
- Average annual high grade iron ore concentrate production of 1.75 million wet metric tonnes grading 67.5% total iron, with very low impurities over an initial 10 year mine life;
- Free after tax cash flow of US$476 million from the first 10 years of operations; and
- First concentrate delivery targeted for December quarter 2012.

On August 1 Richmond raised A$4.5 million from a placement of 14.1 million shares at $0.32, with the funding injection to progress the Buena Vista project.

Additional funding will also be raised by Richmond after launching a share purchase plan at the same price, which will allow shareholders to purchase an additional parcel of up to $15,000 worth.

Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/18762/richmond-mining-on-track-to-complete-permitting-for-buena-vista-iron-ore-project-in-nevada-18762.html