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| Our Business » Cia Minera Santa Barbara » The Resource |
Cia Minera Santa Barbara - The Resource |
Geographical Location
The Cia Minera Santa Barbara mines are located in Northern Chile in Region 3, seven kilometres south west of Vallenar (population 20,000) and 55 kilometres from the commercial port of Huasco Bay. The mines and tenements cover an area in excess of 7,400 hectares.
In addition there are two major tenements located near the mine of Las Colorodos, with some 3,000 hectares.
The nine mines have a JORC proven and probable resource of at least 53 million tonnes of iron ore. There is no overburden to remove from the alluvial mines. The four major mines, Japonesa, Japonesita, Mirador and Mariposa are within two kilometres of the crushing and processing plant. Several mine sites were operational and productive until the early 1970's - currently 2.2 million tonnes of iron ore fines are stockpiled at the Japonesa site and a further 0.8 million tonnes at Mirador. In previous times they extracted the lump iron ore and left the iron ore fines behind, which created these stockpiles.
Key Product - 3mm iron ore fines, 63.5% guaranteed Fe
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The Extraction Process
In the past, ore had been processed to extract lump in preference to the fines which had been left behind as buyers in the late seventies were only interested in lump. Therefore, the fines were stockpiled near the physical and magnetic separators. Now there is a significant demand for iron ore fines as pellet feedstock and blast furnace fines. There are now two sources of ore to be processed, the iron ore fine stockpiles and in situ ore. In situ ore is present as alluvial ore that is extracted from near the surface and from veins (stockwork) and alluvial ore bodies that occur at surface and at depth (down to 140 meters).
In situ iron ore - Alluvial and Hard Rock
The extraction and processing of the hard rock and alluvial iron ore deposits involves open cut earth excavation processes, before the ore is processed in separators. See diagram below.
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Extraction process for Iron Ore to be mined at nine sites.
- It is anticipated that minimal overburden will be encountered in extracting at least 12 million
tones of iron ore grading 63.5%.
- The iron ore will is crushed on site.
- The crushed iron ore is separated, the waste left and returned to the extraction pit. The iron ore is collected and positioned ready for transport.
- The iron ore is transported by road to Caldera,
and in 2008 Punta Alcalde. - The iron ore is stockpiled at Punta Alcalde within 500 metres of the sea port
loading facility.
- The iron ore is transferred to the ship at port.
Port Strategy
From 2007 the Caleta Port in Caldera is where we will ship our iron ore fines from. This loading dock is used from the 15 November to 15 February each year to load fruit from the region in refrigerated containers which are sent to the west coast of the USA. From February to November Santa Barbara has not exclusive use of the port.
Caleta Port
Caleta port can only accept handymax ships that have an overall length of 220 metres, a draft of 11.18 metres and 50,000DWT load. The average handymax ship has 3 tonnes of fuel on board and four cranes with a 20-30 tonne lifting capacity. So the effective load capacity is closer to 47,000 tonnes.
We have booked two ships per month of about 47,000 tonnes which will transport the iron ore fines to China. The iron ore is loaded into hoppers at the port stockpile that hold 25 tonnes and is lifted by the ship gear and loaded into the hold. The loading rate is dependant on the size of the lifting gear on the ship but can be as high as 17,000 tonnes per day.
Candelaria Port
This port is located about 800 metres from the Caleta port stockpile. We are negotiating with the owners Phelps Dodge to build a conveyor into their first class conveyor loading system. While this port is currently environmentally rated at 50,000 tonnes, it will be upgraded to 75,000 tonnes. The upgrade and the conveyor system is expected to be completed by end of 2008 however it is subject to many issues including environmental permits.
The loading capacity is expected to be 25,000 tonnes per day and this will reduce the cost of shipping substantially, by up to $10 per tonne. This is an interim step while we are building our own port, at Punta Alcalde, but we expect we will be able to use the facility after our own cape size port is built at Punta Alcalde and from potential mines we have at Pampa Tolofo.
Punta Alcalde
This port is located 14 kilometres south of the port town Huasco, and about 60 kilometres from the mine site. The road to Huasco is sealed and used by trucks going to the port. There will be a 14 kilometre spur built from the main highway to the Port. The port will be built to accommodate iron ore and copper concentrate in addition to containers, to ensure it is fully utilized.
Aerial Satellite Map
Cia Minera Santa Barbara View Details …
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