Ansteel provides a $374 million AUD loan to Karara Mining Limited for unspecified purposes

Project narrative

In March 2020, Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation (Ansteel) entered into an approximately $374 million AUD line of credit loan agreement with Karara Mining Limited (KML or 卡拉拉矿业公司 or 卡拉拉矿业有限公司) — a special purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly owned Angang Group Investment (Australia) Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Ansteel) — for unspecified purposes. The Karara Iron Ore Project (KIOP) sought to construct and operate a magnetite mining and processing operation located in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. It is located approximately 225 kilometers east-southeast of Geraldton and 320 kilometers north-northeast of Perth. It consisted of an open cut mining pit, a beneficiation processing plant, a waste rock dump (WRD), tailings storage facilities (TSF), rail loading facilities, accommodation facilities, an airstrip, and a Linear Infrastructure Corridor (LIC) containing a water pipeline and access road. Stage 1 of KIOP sought was to be construct infrastructure to produce 3 million tons per annum of hematite and 8 millions tons per annum of magnetite concentrate, to be sold by Ansteel for its 6.5 million tons per annum Bayuquan steel mill in China. The Karara mine contained approximately 1.4 billion metric tons of recoverable reserves and over two billion tons of estimated reserves, with an estimated 60-year lifespan at an initial production rate of 8 million tons per annum. In addition to the mine, the KIOP consisted of the following supporting infrastructure: a 80-kilometer Karara rail spur, connecting KIOP to the common-user rail system at Tilley Siding, near Morawa; a 180-kilometer long 330 kV powerline from Eneabba to Karara, connecting the project site to Western Australia's South West power grid; a 145-kilometer water pipeline, supplying process water from a bore field near Mingenew to Karara; and the Karara Export Terminal (KET) at the Port of Geraldton, with a capacity of 16 million tons per annum of magnetite concentrate or hematite direct shipping, consisting of a dedicated fourth railway line inside the port, a twin-car rotary dumper (train unloader), a 297-meter long storage facility with a 255,000 tons capacity, a dedicated berth, Berth 7, capable of accommodating Panamax vessels; and a 5,000 ton-per-hour ship-loader. The ground-breaking ceremony and the start of construction began on November 2009. The Karara Export Terminal officially opened on September 18, 2012. The project first produced magnetite concentrate in November 2012. The project was officially opened in April 2013. The project first produced 68% Fe concentrate were later in August 2013.