The 50% owned Marillana Iron Ore Project (Marillana or the Project) is Brockman’s flagship project located approximately 100 km north-west of the township of Newman (Figure 1). The Project consists of a Mining Lease (M47/1414) and two Exploration Licences (E47/3170 and 3532).
The proposed mining area of the project is located within Mining Lease M47/1414 which covers an area of 82 km2. The tenement is bordered to the south by the Hamersley Range, where extensive areas of supergene iron ore mineralisation, the source of hematite detrital mineralisation at Marillana, have developed within the Brockman Iron Formation that caps the Range. The project is surrounded by world-class iron ore mines operated by major iron ore producers including BHP Billiton (BHPB), Rio Tinto (Rio), Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) and Hancock Prospecting (HPPL).
Situated in a flat country in the southern margin of the Fortescue Valley Basin, the project can be easily accessed via the Munjina-Roy Hill road (which is a sealed road and has been used by MinRes for heavy haulage) between Marillana and the Great Northern Highway.
Since 22 April 2021 Brockman and Polaris Metals Pty Ltd (‘Polaris’ - a wholly owned subsidiary of Mineral Resources Limited (‘MinRes’)) have formed a 50:50 Farm-in Joint Venture (FJV) after Palais satisfied all the obligations stipulated in the FJV Agreement entered by both parties on 26 July 2018. Under the FJV Agreement, MinRes is to provide both the transport and port infrastructure solution for the Marillana ore and is the manager of the mine development operation at Marillana.
Brockman reports its Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves on an annual basis, in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves 2012 Edition (the ‘JORC Code 2012’), unless otherwise noted. Ore Reserves are included in Mineral Resources reported.
On May 2018, Brockman announced an upgrade to JORC 2012 Code for the Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves at Marillana (Figure 2) from what were previously reported under the JORC 2004 Code on 9 February 2010 and 9 September 2010 respectively by Brockman Resources Limited, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Brockman Mining Limited since 25 September 2012.
In accordance with the guidelines and requirements of the JORC Code 2012, Marillana has been estimated with a total Mineral Resource of 1.506 Bt which including 1.404 Bt of hematite detrital (DID) and 101.9 Mt of channel iron deposit (CID) mineralisation. The detailed breakdowns by Mineral Resource types and classifications are tabulated in Tables 1 and 2.
The hematite detrital mineralisation remains open to the north for a few hundreds of meters, albeit with gradual decrease in both thickness and iron grades.
| Resource classification | Tonnes (Mt) |
Fe (%) |
AI2O3 (%) |
SiO2 (%) |
P (%) |
LOI (%) |
Mass Recovery (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 169.5 | 41.6 | 4.77 | 30.4 | 0.063 | 4.07 | 36.6 |
| Indicated | 961.9 | 42.3 | 5.22 | 29.7 | 0.056 | 3.39 | 37.8 |
| Inferred | 273.0 | 42.0 | 5.79 | 29.5 | 0.055 | 3.40 | 36.0 |
| TOTAL | 1,404.4 | 42.2 | 5.28 | 29.7 | 0.057 | 3.47 | 37.3 |
(Cut-off grade: 38% Fe)
| Resource classification | Tonnes (Mt) |
Fe (%) |
AI2O3 (%) |
SiO2 (%) |
P (%) |
LOI (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | 84.2 | 55.8 | 3.58 | 5.0 | 0.097 | 9.76 |
| Inferred | 17.7 | 54.4 | 4.34 | 6.6 | 0.080 | 9.30 |
| TOTAL | 101.9 | 55.6 | 3.71 | 5.3 | 0.094 | 9.68 |
(Cut-off grade: 52% Fe)
The Ore Reserves shown in Table 3 and 4 below are based solely on the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources shown in Table 1 and are the result of the mining studies by Perth-based Golder Associates (Golder), as part of the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS). Golder has concluded that the Marillana Project contains 1.01Bt of Probable Ore Reserves which consists of 967 Mt of DID (as Beneficiation Feed) and 46 Mt of CID (as direct-ship-ore, or DSO) within the optimal pit design.
| Reserve classification | Ore Type | Tonnes (Mt) | Fe cut-off grade (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Probable | DID (Beneficiation feed) | 967 | 38 |
| Probable | CID (DSO) | 46 | 52 |
| Probable* | TOTAL | 1,013 |
* Based on, and included in, the total Mineral Resources reported in Table 1 &2.
| Ore Sale Type | Reserve classification | Tonnes (Mt) | Fe (%) | AI2O3 (%) | SiO2 (%) | LOI (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DID (DID fines product) |
Probable | 358 | 60.3 | 3.0 | 6.2 | 2.5 |
| CID (CID fines product) |
Probable | 46 | 55.5 | 3.7 | 5.3 | 9.7 |
| TOTAL* | Probable | 404 | 59.8 | 3.1 | 6.1 | 3.3 |
*Extracted from the 967 Mt of DID Ore Reserves as beneficiation feed shown in Table 3.
Based on the result of Brockman’s extensive beneficiation testworks, which is supported by the ongoing metallurgical testwork by MinRes, the Beneficiation Feed Ore Reserves are expected to produce 358 Mt of final product grading 60.5-61.5% Fe, with impurity levels comparable with other West Australian direct shipping hematite ore (DSO) iron ore producers. The CID Ore is a DSO product which would be prepared for export as a separate product, resulting in the Marillana Project containing 404 Mt of export product (beneficiated product of DID plus CID).
This Project represents one of the largest undeveloped hematite Ore Reserve positions in the Pilbara, outside of the four major producers (BHPB, Rio, FMG, and HPPL). The Detrital Ore is upgraded to a high-quality, sinter feed product via simple beneficiation, which is supported by low-cost mining, low waste ore ratios and large continuous ore zones.
Based on existing Reserves and Resources, the Marillana Project will support over 20 years of mining operations, producing at a forecast production rate of up to 20 Mtpa of beneficiated ore grading from 60.5% to 61.5% Fe, and DSO ore grading 55.5%.