| Hawkwood |
The Hawkwood Project in southern Queensland is located 160km from the coast and 250km by rail from the coal export port of Gladstone (Figure 1), an area well serviced with existing infrastructure which includes deepwater ports and a proposed steel mill. Figure 1: Location of Eastern Iron's Hawkwood Joint Venture Project The Hawkwood Project includes some 100% Eastern Iron tenure and a JV between Eastern Iron, Rugby Mining Pty Ltd (Rugby) and Rugby Mining Limited (TSX Code: RUG). Part of the JV area is subject to a 2% Net Smelter Royalty held by Newcrest Operations Limited (ASX Code: NCM). Eastern Iron can earn a 50% interest in the exploration area by spending $700,000 within three years and can earn up to an 80% interest by spending in staged increments to a Bankable Feasibility Study. The joint venture transaction has been accepted by the TSX Venture Exchange. The Hawkwood Project area contains layered intrusive complexes of the Bushveld Type, South Africa. These intrusions often form large, sill-like bodies of differentiated igneous rock which exhibit extensive layering (distinct differences in mineral compositions and textures) extending laterally over many square kilometres. They are important hosts for titanium- and vanadium-bearing magnetite iron deposits such as at Savage River, Tasmania and Balla Balla, Western Australia as well as some of the world's largest platinum-palladium group element (PGE) deposits such as the Merensky Reef, South Africa. On 18 February 2010, Eastern Iron announced very encouraging new magnetite concentrate assay results with all samples returning approximately 60% Fe and 1% V2O5 after recovery, following a relatively coarse (75 micron) grind (Table 1). Contaminant levels, including phosphorous sulphur and halides are low, clearly highlighting the potential high quality of concentrate that could be produced from the Hawkwood intrusion. Table 1: Magnetite concentrate, major and minor element recoveries and assay results  Notes: Analysis conducted by Spectrolab Laboratories using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry with loss on ignition (LOI) determined using Thermo-Gravimetric Analyses at 1000°C Eastern Iron believes this untested main anomaly zone represents a series of outcropping and subcropping magnetite segregations over a strike length extending well over 5km (Figure 2). The size and geological environment provide a bulk tonnage iron ore exploration target of similar style, size and quality to other magnetite-vanadium bearing layered intrusive complexes such as Balla Balla, Western Australia. Several other anomalies, which may also represent magnetite segregations, occur throughout the joint venture area (Breakaway, Line-out and Ankle-tap targets - Figure 2) and Eastern Iron will also investigate these.  Figure 2: Location of the Hawkwood joint venture and the new 100% Eastern Iron EPM application area. Encouraging magnetite-vanadium assays were collected from historic drill core drilled outside the main magnetic target. Background image is an existing, low-resolution aeromagnetic survey, red areas represent highly magnetic rocks prospective for iron ore. |