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The facility’s function will be the delivery of a cost effective and fit for purpose infrastructuresolution for the receival, materials handling, and ship loading of bulk commodities ontotranshipping vessels.

Part of the memo signed this week will include the intention for this SPV to liaise with owners of bulk commodity projects in the West Pilbara, offering them a complete pit to customer supply chain solution.

As part of the latter, Norden, a subsidiary of Danish company Dampskibsselskabet NORDEN A/S, will provide transhipping on behalf of the SPV while Macro will run the pit to port mining services.

Macro managing director Simon Rushton declared the agreement is expected to provide a potentially transformative project for the region.

“They (Norden) have a seriously impressive history of providing safe, reliable and innovative marine transport solutions around the world and for Macro to be able to leverage their experience and expertise as a partner in delivering a bespoke export solution that can be used for both Macro products and that of third party users is a fantastic outcome,” he said.

“Securing access to a cost effective and sustainable export solution for Macro’s West Pilbaraprojects has been a key focus for me since joining the company.

“It became readily apparent there is an immediate need for a fit for purpose, truly multi-user export facility to service the West Pilbara and for Macro to secure the rights in partnership to deliver such a facility is entirely consistent with our stated intention to build Macro into a diversified mining and mining services business.

“The formation of this strategic partnership between Macro and NORDEN will mark a significant milestone in advancing our West Pilbara projects and underscores our commitment to innovative and sustainable development.”

Investors appeared to be impressed by the news, and at 12:22 AEDT, shares in Macro were trading at 1.9 cents – a rise of 5.55% since the market opened.

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This arrangement – dubbed the Pilbara Base Metal Alliance – is aiming to produce more than 20 kilotonnes per annum of copper from the region overall, with the assets at Whim Creek facilitating a near-term processing option for open pit mining at Whundo, 100 kilometres away.

As a result of the MOU, GreenTech and Anax will collaborate on both feasibility work and permitting to develop the proposed Whim Creek Project, which will comprise a 400,000-tonne per annum concentrator, and a refurbished heap leach facility which will be able to treat oxide, transitional and supergene ore.

The companies are hoping that the Whim Creek hub could achieve a production profile of 20-30 kilotonnes per annum of copper equivalent over a mine life of ten years, making it a major player in the West Australian copper scene.

Anax managing director Geoff Laing said the MOU was a step in the right direction for developing the region’s potential further.

“We are extremely pleased to take these first steps towards creating an expanded Pilbara copper business with our neighbours, GreenTech,” he said.

“We look forward to delivering scalable assets with near term “energy metals” production.”

GreenTech executive director Tom Reddicliffe said a potential formalised alliance with Anax would bring near term development of Whundo much closer.

“Our project already has defined open-pittable copper and zinc resources and potential to define additional near surface resource tonnes at both Yannery and Ayshia,” he said.

“The alliance could be the catalyst that the West Pilbara needs to become a significant copper producer and we look forward to working closely with Anax to make this a reality.”

Whim Creek sits 115 kilometres southwest of Port Hedland and 40 kilometres south of Karratha.

GreenTech Metals has been trading at 23 cents, while Anax Metals has been trading at 5.4 cents.

The copper price has soared to highs of US $5.13 per pound, before retreating more recently to US $5.05.

Black Canyon rolled out heavy liquid separation (HLS) testing across two samples taken from five holes at the KR1 and KR2 deposits in late 2023, with each hole going down to 10 metres.

Both samples were notable for high grades of manganese concentrates, measuring between 30.2 and 37.4 percent from KR1 and between 29.2 and 35.3 percent from KR2.

Black Canyon’s initial plan was to produce high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) feedstock from the two deposits at a target grade of between 30 and 33 percent.

However, since several results from this testing go well beyond such grades, this opens another potential pathway for the company: production of a smaller volume, but higher-grade manganese product – at around 35 to 37 percent – in addition to the lower-grade feedstock.

Both deposits are located within the Balfour Manganese Field, for which Black Canyon has achieved a maiden mineral resource estimate of 103 million tonnes (Mt) at 10.4 percent manganese containing 10.7 Mt of manganese based on an extensive program of reverse circulation drilling.

More specifically, KR1 carries an indicated resource estimate of 79 Mt at 10.0 percent manganese, while KR2’s resource estimate is inferred at 24 Mt at 11.9 percent manganese.

Executive director Brendan Cummins said the results had provided stronger guidance for where Black Canyon might go with its manganese portfolio.

“The Company continues to deliver on its strategy of discovering substantial mineral resources that can be developed to produce manganese concentrates for alloying used in the steel industry and downstream HPMSM processing,” he said.

“The primary purpose of this current beneficiation testwork is to produce 100 to 150 kilograms of manganese concentrate from KR1 and KR2 samples that can be used for further detailed hydrometallurgical testwork as we seek to optimise and refine the HPMSM flowsheet.

“The metallurgical results are significant for two reasons. Firstly, we have achieved a higher grade manganese concentrate above our target range of 30 – 33 percent manganese and secondly it improves our understanding of the relationship between concentrate grade, recovery and particle size liberation.”

Some might say now is a good time to be setting up production for a manganese deposit in Australia, given recent news that South32 will be temporarily suspending its Groote Eylandt Mining Company (GEMCO) operations in the Northern Territory, due to damage caused by tropical cyclone Megan.

Black Canyon is trading at 10c.

Mr Michael has been Red Hawk’s Managing Director since March. He’s overseeing the development of its Blacksmith project – a 173.8 million tonne resource at 60 per cent iron – a grade considered good in the Pilbara.

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is neighbouring to the north and Fortescue Mining Corporation (ASX:FMG) to the south.

“Previously the expectation from neighbours was if they waited long enough, the project might come to them and now we’re progressing the project and its development is a lot more certain,” he said.

“I think with close to 200 million tonnes at 60 per cent (Fe) – and this is a new resource only a month or two old – people will potentially think it does have some opportunity for that.”

“I wouldn’t know about it – one phone call could see control of Red Hawk Mining change hands,” Mr Michael said.

That’s because two of Red Hawk’s 4000 shareholders – Todd Corporation (NZ family-owned company) and OCJ Investment (Melbourne) – together hold the vast majority of the company. Todd Corporation has a 59.5 per cent stake and OCJ holds 20.8 per cent.

The Blacksmith project is an iron ore stash in the Pilbara that’s had nearly 200,000 metres of drilling, narrowed down in some parts to as close as 50-metre intervals.

“This will be a really big junior iron ore player – essentially our resource is the same size as all the other Pilbara junior iron ore companies put together,” Mr Michael said.

Red Hawk’s scoping study, released last month, suggests it’ll be feasible to mine three million tonnes per annum; to build a 25-kilometre access road; and, to cart the ore on 60 metre-long ultra quad 150-tonne capacity haulage road trains all the way – 446 kilometres in total – to Port Hedland’s Utah Point shipping facility. That transport cost is $45 a tonne, representing the bulk (62 per cent) of operating costs.

The study figures were done at an iron ore price of US$89 a tonne, with a $150 million capital expenditure, a payback period of just over three years and a 20-year mine life.

The company plans to convert three to four years supply of the Canga and Dales Gorge Member iron ore to JORC-measured status by mid-next year and start production a year later, in 2025.

An experienced mining analyst, Mr Michael was appointed earlier this year to revisit the project’s potential and scale.

“Most companies in the Pilbara are mining the hills, ours has tumbled down off of the hills into the valley – detrital deposits,” he said, “that’s what makes it different”.

“High grade wins out every time. We are now going for grade over volume”.

He said if the company could generate lump iron ore material as well as fines, the economics would be enhanced because the lumps could be sent directly to a blast furnace and not require sintering.

And, the project leaders had the benefit of strong relationships with the traditional owners, proactively addressing concerns around the local water table. Red Hawk has vowed not to mine below the water table.

Red Hawk doesn’t have access to the rail networks owned by its mining giant neighbours and haulage is the largest cost factor in the Red Hawk project equation.

As Mr Michael explains, this is despite the ‘spaghetti junction’ of rail lines.

“We sit in the middle of that, but don’t have access to anyone else’s infrastructure,” he said.

“To be able to sit together with one of those majors and say, can we use your railway line? The door’s not open.

“We would like to get to the position to be able to speak to neighbours about using their infrastructure.”

Mr Michael admits Red Hawk has an issue with liquidity with Todd Corporation and OCJ Investments holding such a large percentage of the company.

When the company launched its $6.3 million entitlement – which closes later this month – to fund the pre-feasibility study, $5.1 million was immediately committed thanks to those shareholders. A good problem to have, but one that comes with limitations.

“Our problem is 80 per cent of shares are held by two groups. We need to look at ways of increasing liquidity and turnover,” he said.

“This is important to help realise the full value potential of this project in our share price.

“The plan is to increase marketing over the next six to 12 months”.

Perhaps the $89 a tonne iron ore price is conservative. But then, what’s to say demand won’t collapse and the price crash?

China’s property sector has been a worry and Mr Michael predicts West Africa will bring 150 million tonnes on line.

“West Africa will add volume into the mix and we will see a reduction in the Pilbara with the move to more magnetite supplies – a rebalancing of the type and the location,” he said.

“Magnetite is a large part of the future of iron ore. It’s a higher-grade product at about 65 per cent iron and has less impurities.

“Our aim has to be over 60 per cent, plus low silica and low impurity alumina. There will be a market for that.”

Red Hawk Mining last traded at 65 cents.