Centrex metals – PROJECTS
Centrex Metals Ltd has extensive tenement holdings over iron ore resources and exploration targets on Eyre Peninsula in the southern Gawler Craton adjacent to existing rail/port facilities.
Fig. 1 :: Centrex Metals Ltd Exploration Licences, Eyre Peninsula (Click to see image)The resources and targets are mainly within the early Proterozoic Middleback Subgroup sequence of banded iron formations (BIF) that host the historically important and currently operating iron ore mines of the Middleback Range (Onesteel Ltd). The extensive iron formations of Eyre Peninsula contain significant inferred resources of hematite and/or magnetite banded iron formation. Both historical and recent assays and metallurgical work have confirmed their potential and furthermore, the compositions of magnetic separations are favourable with high iron and low silica, alumina, phosphorous, alkalis and manganese.
Three categories of iron ore have been considered:- massive hematite ore (as traditionally mined) with Fe > 56% and low impurities (eg. phosphorous and silica);
- hematite-rich BIF or jaspilite (interbanded hematite, quartz and/or iron silicates) with Fe >30%; and
- magnetite-rich BIF (interbanded magnetite, quartz, marble and/or iron silicates) with magnetite content as determined by magnetic Davis Tube Separation (DTS)
>20% by weight.
The first category has traditionally been regarded as ‘direct shipping ore’ that could be exported without the need for beneficiation while the latter two categories would require beneficiation (concentration with or without pelletizing) to produce either iron concentrates or direct reduction (DR) grade iron ore pellets suitable for the export market.
Centrex also holds two tenements near Goulburn in New South Wales. These tenements are considered to be prospective for skarn style magnetite and base metal mineralisation. Skarn style mineralisation is commonly associated with either metals and mineral containing gold, lead, zinc and tin.
