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https://www.afr.com/business/mining/fortescue-iron-ore-prices-jump-47pc-20190418-p51f9g The article is huge! Mina do Barroso is the only project worth acquiring in Portugal. Everything is infancy greenfield exploration stage. We now own 100 %
and applied to total shipments of 38.3 million tonnes, including 3.8 million tonnes of Fortescue’s new higher grade West Pilbara Fines product, from its operations in WA. Fortescue said it had suffered a 2.5 million tonne hit in shipments in the quarter as a result of Cyclone Veronica which battered the Pilbara coast in March also affecting production for Rio Tinto and BHP. The company blamed the drop in shipment volumes for an increase in costs to $US13.51 a wet metric tonne for the quarter. Fortescue revised it guidance to shipments of 165-170 million tonnes for 2018-19 and costs of $US13-13.50 a wet metric tonne. Ms Gaines said the company had focused on optimising product mix in a strong market and hailed the success of 60.1 per cent iron grade West Pilbara Fines product. She said Fortescue had finalised long term contracts with nine customers for off-take of West Pilbara Fines. Fortescue continued to talk up the merits of its recent commitment to the 22 million tonne-a-year, $US2.6 billion Iron Bridge magnetite project which it expects to substantially boost the grade of its iron ore exports. “The Iron Bridge product will increase our average grade, providing Fortescue with the ability to deliver the majority of our products at greater than 60 per cent iron grade,” Ms Gaines said. “We are confident the project will deliver growth in earnings and cashflow, resulting in enhanced returns to our shareholders and our joint venture partners through all market cycles.” Advertisement Fortescue’s shipments in the March quarter were in line with the same period last year while ore mined and overburden removed increased by 15 and 11 per cent respectively. Ms Gaines said this had positioned Fortescue for a strong final quarter. The Fortescue share price was up slightly at $7.46 on Thursday after sliding 8.5 per cent a day earlier when Brazilian miner Vale was cleared to resume production at its Brucutu mine.
Fortescue steps up hunt for lithium 'elephant'  Brad ThompsonReporter Apr 18, 2019 — 11.23am Save Share Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group efforts to gain exposure to booming demand for battery metals remain focused on exploration but it has left the door open to buying into a established lithium project. The cashed-up miner has been exploring for lithium in its iron ore heartland in Western Australia where Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources, Pilbara Minerals and Altura Mining already have lithium mines. Fortescue has now turned its attention to Portugal, which makes up about 10 per cent of global supply, and applied for tenements covering about 7000 square kilometres it considers prospective for lithium.  Fortescue Metals CEO Elizabeth Gaines: "We are confident the project will deliver growth in earnings and cash flow..." Sanghee Liu Chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said on Thursday that Fortescue's lithium ambitions remained focused on exploration but it didn’t have a closed mind on acquiring a stake or control of existing projects. Just before he stepped down as Fortescue chief executive in February last year, Nev Power said the company was “looking for elephants in elephant country” in terms of lithium exploration in WA’s Pilbara region. RELATED QUOTES FMGFortescue Metals Group $7.48+0.05 (+0.67%) 1 year1 day Apr 18Jul 18Apr 193.0005.0007.000 Updated: Apr 18, 2019 — 6.50pm View FMG related articles Advertisement “We know there is lithium in the Pilbara but in drilling on our tenements we haven’t found anything of commercial scale. We have found some lithium,” Ms Gaines said on Thursday. “Portugal is elephant country as well. We are still hunting for elephants in elephant country.” Fortescue also started drilling at copper-gold targets in Ecuador this week as it steps up efforts to diversify into battery metals. Wesfarmers, caught up in a row over its takeover bid for Lynas Corporation, is also keen to branch out into the sector and was an underbidder when Albemarle agreed to pay $US1.15 billion for a 50 per cent stake in Mineral Resources’ Wodgina lithium project in the Pilbara in November. Pilbara Minerals put a 49 per cent stake in its nearby flagship Pilgangoora lithium project up sale in March. The update on Fortescue’s exploration plans in Portugal and lithium ambitions came after it announced a big jump in iron ore pricing on the back of global concerns about supply that have eased slightly rival producer Vale moves to reopen one of its mines in Brazil. Fortescue received an average price of $US71 a tonne in the March quarter, a 47 per cent increase when compared to $48-a-tonne average price received in the three-month period to the end of December. The Fortescue pricing boost outperformed the benchmark increase of 16 per cent and a
On the lock in, each to their own but I have a hard time seeing them dumping all their shares just before production... Dale at least is probably as committed as you can be. And at that point, we should have quite OK volumes so it doesn't have to affect too much and you can probably find an II taking the other side. On calcs, 11musd for 25 % of MdB is a steal and if I had that cash, I would've considered it..
I really like this deal. An obvious dress up for future partners, simplifying w 100 % control and valuation wise, it can't get any smaller imo. All relevant valuation increases will be 100 % SAV now and quite frankly, we are already paying 100 % of costs. The vendors are aligned, sees this increasing substantially in value and also, they are locked in. Dale is now a very substantial owner in SAV and he is very focused on bringing this project forward.
Again, a very good deal!
Welcome back. I agree completely fwiw, have bought like crazy too but not really as low as you. But this is Africa and patience is key. Having met CEO and geologist and gone through the case several times, I see this as a close to no brainer as far as risky exploration plays are concerned,
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/report-building-strategic-battery-value-chain-april2019_en.pdf
If anything, read p 12 even if I recommend reading it all.
https://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=299048
So increased output to 1.5mtpa - that will mean a lot for NPV!
great news with a significant increase in resource (again) and a move to measured/indicated. Comparing our 0.8 % Fe to Pilbara 1.8 gives even more confidence. Even without Aldeia we will surely be a 30mt+ resource this year imo.
https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2019/04/lithium-the-irreplaceable-element-of-the-electric-era.html
Last paragraph... nuff said
Very good and important development....
https://newsbeezer.com/portugaleng/australian-iron-giant-positions-itself-in-lithium-race-in-portugal-company/
The Aldeia tenement is a separate tenement to MdB. It is a Mining Lease application but can be developed in conjunction with MdB using the MdB concentrator. Run-of-mine ore from Aldeia can be trucked the short distance to the MdB plant. The licensing for Aldeia will be simpler as it will only be an open-cut and there will not be any processing plant. There are numerous examples of these operating in the region already.
No doubt in my mind that Aldeia will be a key deposit of ours. Been on site and seen the outcroppings myself. Even easy for a non geologist to understand that it is good, shallow and economic. They called it the New Grandao....!
It even links to story of SAV http://www.mining.com/europe-aims-take-place-global-ev-battery-production-stage/
Cash for the whole year and management goal to never again raise retail cash so in the future it has to be through partnerships and asset level funding. I’d be happpy to welcome industry partners at topco if we get a good price.