Amur Minerals has raised $8mn to invest in two metal mining projects in Australia and Russia.
Of the total investment, the firm plans to employ $4.7mn for a 19pc stake in Nathan River Resources (NRR), a north Australian iron ore project, and the balance $3.3mn toward its Kun-Manie nickel-copper project in Russia.
The company said that the operations at the Roper Bar project could resume at the end of Q3 2020 after the site received necessary approvals from the regional government in May. It will operate with limited pre-shipment iron ore processing and benefit from the $250mn infrastructure investment in the port. Glencore has already entered an agreement with NRR for marketing and distributing Roper’s iron ore for an undisclosed investment.
Amur and Glencore note that iron ore has been one of the best-performing commodities in 2020 and China’s demand for the material is expected to remain strong with continued stimulus measures.
NRR will operate in two stages. In the first phase, the mine will produce 4mn mt of direct-ship ore (DSO) and 1mn mt of high-grade dense media separation ore (DMS) per year. DMS production is slated to climb to 1.5mn mt and 1.8mn mt per year in the second and third years, respectively. The second phase is expected to see an annual DMS output of 5mn mt.