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EASTERN RESOURCES LIMITED — AGM Information 2010
Nov 22, 2010
64824_rns_2010-11-22_57cef4ff-27e6-417b-8266-02e4959380ba.pdf
AGM Information
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23 November 2010
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EASTERN IRON LIMITED
CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS TO THE 2010 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
2010 has been a year of consolidation and achievement for Eastern Iron.
Your Board’s main aim is to increase value to shareholders by developing quality iron, copper, gold or precious metal assets that have the potential to generate cash. Eastern Iron’s focus remains on building a portfolio of projects in Australasia that ideally are advanced or opportunistic with a strong risk/reward ratio. We believe this approach will give us a good chance of developing a profitable mining business.
In the past year your Company has:
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farmed into the Hawkwood iron-vanadium magnetite project near Gladstone, Qld
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completed initial drilling at Hawkwood to show potential for an exploration target tonnage of 300-400 million tonnes
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completed preliminary metallurgical testing at Hawkwood
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applied for several exploration permits (Auburn and Redwood) with similar potential to Hawkwood in the same area
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acquired 100% of the Eulogie Park iron-vanadium magnetite deposit near Gladstone
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finalised a tenement swap agreement with PlatSearch that gave Eastern a 100% stake in 13 NSW tenements and 49% in 4 others
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farmed out the 13 wholly owned tenements to 3E Steel Pty Ltd
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made two new tenement applications for coal in Queensland’s Bowen Basin as well as assessing other opportunities
I will give a little more detail on several of the above matters, but I’ll leave most of the details for Greg De Ross to cover in his Managing Director’s presentation.
The Company’s strategy to build a portfolio of projects has led to the creation of the Central Queensland Iron Project (comprising Hawkwood, Eulogie and Auburn) based on possible synergies from the development of several magnetite iron deposits proximate to the port of Gladstone.
This grouping of deposits provides potential for the development of a long-life iron ore industry in this region. The Central Queensland Iron Project, unlike some similar projects in Western Australia, is very close to existing roads, rail and port facilities. We believe the Central Queensland Iron Project is a case where the value of the package is greater than the sum of the parts.
CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS – AGM 23 NOVEMBER 2010
EASTERN IRON LIMITED
The recent drilling of Hawkwood resulted in the discovery of a new magnetite iron ore body. We had already applied for the nearby 100%-owned Auburn and Redwood tenements as they had similar attributes to Hawkwood. Our Managing Director, Greg De Ross then pursued the acquisition of 100% of the Eulogie magnetite deposit which is even closer to Gladstone than Hawkwood. All prospects are near open access QR National rail lines within a few hundred km of the Port of Gladstone. In a fairly short space of time we have assembled a package comprising an advanced project, one that is being drilled up and several that are in the early exploration stage. We will be doing considerable work in Central Queensland to progress all of these areas.
Our portfolio now also includes 2 coal tenement applications in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. Our applications have a number of competing applicants, but they demonstrate that Eastern is looking at a broad array of opportunities and is happy to compete for good areas.
The final part of our portfolio that I’ll mention is the NSW Iron Project. Ownership of the 17 tenements has been reorganised, with Eastern Iron becoming the 100% owner of 13 of them, then farming out those areas to 3E Steel Pty Ltd. 3E is planning bulk sampling and extensive metallurgical test work. The remaining 4 NSW tenements are now 49% owned by Eastern Iron with PlatSearch holding the balance.
Moving to finances, Eastern had approximately $2.2 million net cash at 30 September. We have subsequently received approximately $300,000 from the exercise of listed 12c options which are now ‘in the money’. Our 12c options expire on 19 December and if the remaining options are all exercised, a further $2.1 million would be raised.
Given the active drilling and metallurgical testing programs we have planned, together with our program of project identification and evaluation, the additional funds raised will be put to good use. We are hoping that our work over the coming year will add substantial value to Eastern Iron.
In closing, on behalf of the Board I would like to thank our shareholders for their support and our team of management, contractors and consultants for their efforts during the year.
Glenn Goodacre Chairman
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