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ASX-listed Macro metals on Tuesday
announced an agreement to acquire an 80% interest in three manganese projects
in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The company entered into an agreement with
fellow ASX-listed Firebird Metals to acquire the Wandanya, Disraeli and
Midgengadge tenements. Macro will invest A$150 000 over 12 months at the
tenements and complete at least ten reverse circulation drill holes, with 100 m
to be drilled on each of the tenements, to earn its interest.
The agreement with Firebird is Macro’s first joint venture and also marks the launch of its mining
services division.
“My aim is to build core project
development, construction and operational teams within Macro supported by an
appropriately resourced corporate team. There is a minimum overhead required
regardless of whether you are supporting one operation or several and the key
to being sustainable through the commodity cycles is to get the unit cost of
support and operational services down as quickly as possible,” said MD Simon Rushton.
By providing mining services to third
parties, Macro aims to scale its teams quicker than by only providing services. “This means we have more resources, a wider array of
skills and experience, redundancy and flexibility sooner; all of which are
crucial for safely running a profitable, sustainable diversified mining and
mining services business.”
“We will look to take the organic mining
services revenue and our 80% profit share from exploiting the DSO manganese and
investing it into our iron-ore projects as well as growing
our mining services capabilities.
Importantly, this potential revenue may enable us to evaluate and organically
fund a future manganese beneficiation operation likely using simple dense media
separation post crushing and screening,” said Rushton.
Meanwhile, Firebird said disposing off the
noncore tenements would enable the company to continue its strategic focus on
the Oakover project, in the Pilbara, and its Chinese lithium manganese iron
phosphate strategy.
“By partnering with Macro, we leverage
their expertise and resources to drive the development of these tenements,
which not only ensures that they receive the necessary investment and
development attention, but also allows Firebird to benefit from potential
production and value growth without immediate capital outlay,” said Firebird MD Peter Allen.