Todd Capital, the investment arm of the Todd family, has taken a 25 per cent stake in a West Australian titano-magnetite iron ore development from which its 75 per cent partner, Forge Resources, forecasts operating earnings of more A$550 million a year.
ASX-listed Forge announced last December it had bought licences for the Balla Balla tenements, 100 kilometres from Port Hedland, for A$40 million.
Forge announced Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval for Todd to become a joint venture partner in developing a mine for some 250 million tonnes of JORC-compliant titano-magnetite reserves, used in steel-making. Feasibility studies have identified low-cost extraction potential, with the study to be updated by mid-year
The joint venture agreement lodged with the ASX also contemplates a phosphate mine within the same tenements, in which Todd might take a 50 per cent interest, based on its voting rights, should a phosphate mining opportunity also be firmed up.
Titano-magnetite is increasingly seen as an alternative feedstock in iron and steel production, and is abundant in ironsands off the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Australian metals giant Fortescue and NZ-based TransTasman Resources are among those pursuing such interests on this side of the Tasman.
