Strike Resources has signed early agreements for its Paulsens East iron ore mine, including with listed contractor Dynamic Drill and Blast.
Strike Resources has signed early agreements for its Paulsens East iron ore mine, including with listed contractor Dynamic Drill and Blast.
Paulsens East is a proposed 1.5 mllion tonnes per annum direct shipping ore (DSO) operation in the Pilbara.
In an ASX announcement on Monday, Strike said it had signed early contractor involvement (ECI) agreements with Dynamic and South Australian business Lucas Total Contract Solutions, as well as secured further long lead items for the project.
Dynamic – which completed initial drill and blast test work at Paulsens East earlier this year – is set to continue services under a four-year contract while privately owned LTCS has been selected for mining, crushing, and screening services.
LTCS is also expected to complete civil works including the construction of an 18km haulage road and mining centre.
Strike said it was working with both companies to finalise their detailed scope of services, schedules, and formal contractual terms.
It said it had signed all formal third-party access agreements while formal approval from the Department of Mines was expected in the next "two to four weeks".
“The securing of further long lead items together with ore sorter and associated equipment are important steps as the company advances towards making a final investment decision,” managing director William Johnson said.
Strike has previously said it was aiming for an FID in the third quarter of this year, but did not specifiy that in Monday's update.
In a separate announcement, Dynamic managing director Mark Davis said the Paulsens East project complemented the contractor’s current work in hand.
That includes work on GWR Group’s C4 iron ore deposit in the Mid West under a subcontract with Pilbara Resource Group.
Shares in Dynamic and Strike remain unchanged on Monday, trading at 44 cents and 24 cents, respectively.
Strike is one of more than a dozen listed companies aiming to commence new iron ore projects in the next two years. The current edition of Business News, out today, has an in-depth report on all these projects.
