Critical minerals deal opens Australia to US investment opportunities
A new joint venture wants to find and extract the potentially hundreds of millions in the Territory’s stranded resource assets. Find out how it will work.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Technology used to breathe new life into the Territory’s Frances Creek iron ore mine could be rolled-out on a larger scale if a new joint-venture partnership succeeds.
Australian mining services, infrastructure, recycling, and renewables company Reforme Group has partnered with Nevada-based M2i Global Incorporated to form The Quadrangle Project for beneficiation of old mine sites and new resource discoveries in the Territory and Australia-wide.
The deal could result in the recovery of potentially hundreds-of-millions in stranded mining assets.
Key to the partnership is the German-developed Steinert technology – originally designed to sort plastics from metal – which can X-ray individual rocks to determine their value and take the guesswork out of extraction.
The technology led to a world first 100,000 tonnes of additional high-grade iron ore being extracted and exported to China from Port Darwin from NT Bullion’s Frances Creek iron ore mine, about 200km south of Darwin near Pine Creek.
The Frances Creek iron ore mine opened in 1967 and after a couple of reboots was most recently placed in care and maintenance in 2014 before being revived again by NT Bullion for beneficiation in 2019.
The Quadrangle Project partnership was born out of two significant deals between the White House and Canberra, beginning with the 2005 Free Trade Agreement and then last May’s critical minerals compact signed by President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Project vice president Deane Russell said the May critical minerals compact meant Australian businesses could link with United States companies with connections to extensive capital market networks which opened investment opportunities that might not have been available.
“The work we’ve done at Frances Creek with the Steinert is the basis of the business,” he said.
“In the Northern Territory there are a lot of isolated assets including lithium and copper and other resources from the critical minerals list,” Mr Russell said.
“Remote mining is challenging at the best of times but at Frances Creek we’ve demonstrated we’re able to bring a stranded asset to market with the X-ray technology able to identify ore value.”
He said there were potentially dozens of disused mines and other sites across the Territory which, using the Steinert and other new technologies, could be beneficiated.
“More importantly there are other good solid assets that can be accessed and the joint venture brings the United States with access to investment and its expertise in large markets.
“We’re focusing on mining and using technology to extract the highest quality value out of any waste or mine material.”
Reforme is chaired by Anthony Short and is a subsidiary of NT Minerals (formerly NT Bullion).
Lieutenant General (Ret) Jeffrey Talley is president and CEO of M2i Global.
Other key personnel include managing director Rod Illingworth and Rak Mak Mak Marranunggu Tradition Owner Rod Jansan
‘Kneeling on my throat’: Lizard sculptor unloads on public service
The feud between the NTG and the Tennant Creek lizard sculptor has intensified. Read the latest.
In photos: Surf’s up as monsoon looms for Top End
While eager surfers took advantages of the churning ocean off Nightcliff, a leading Northern Territory knowledge hub has warned of the potential impacts to the agricultural sector if the tropical monsoon does not deliver.