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IMDEX blasts into

Iron Bridge

ining-tech company IMDEX Ltd has Despite the economic headwinds which
Mcapped off its best annual financial re- have curtailed some developments in the
sult by awarding a first commercial contract industry this year, Fortescue expects pro-
for its flagship Blast Dog multi-sensing log- ject capital to remain within the previously
ging tool. estimated range of $US3.6-3.8 million. Iron
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd has signed Bridge JV partner Formosa Steel IB Pty Ltd
a three-year agreement for the staged use is responsible for 31% of that cost.
of Blast Dog at its upcoming Iron Bridge It has not been all smooth sailing at Iron
operation in the Pilbara. IMDEX has valued Bridge with several delays culminating in IMDEX has signed its first commercial
the contract at $13 million over the initial last year’s reported $US900 million cost agreement for use of the Blast Dog
term. blow-out and a number of senior Fortescue technology at Fortescue’s upcoming Iron
Blast Dog is a commodity-agnostic blast executives being shown the door. Bridge mine
hole sensing and physical measurement House said while the reasons for Fortes-
technology which is semi-autonomously cue signing up for the Blast Dog technology company’s workforce for overcoming yet
deployed prior to blast hole drilling to in- were commercial in confidence, he pointed another year of adversity in wake of the
form decisions around blasting, screening, out that most of the world’s top magnetite pandemic.
blending and stockpiling, among others, mines had endured cost challenges. “None of that stuff comes out of the cor-
before materials are subject to processing. “It’s no secret that magnetite mines ner office, it comes out of the guys on the
IMDEX has spent the past year moving around the world have been notoriously dif- frontline, which has set the scene such that
the technology from engineering protype to ficult to run consistently economically well,” no matter what opportunity gets thrown at
commercial application. he said. you, it’s there to take advantage of,” he said.
“It’s a great culmination in what’s been “The root cause of a lot of those issues, “For me, the margin expansion number
4-5 years of work from its original idea particularly so in magnetite mines, is really [EBITDA margin of 30.7%, up from 28.7%
through to having a commercial prototype comprehensive orebody knowledge, or the in FY2021] was probably the most valuable
in the field,” IMDEX chief executive Paul lack of it. So, if you can provide a much number on the financial side…that’s a third
House told Paydirt. richer data set around the composition of consecutive year of margin expansion.
the orebody – the ore “Underneath all that, we continue to in-
waste boundaries, the vest in our Digital 2.0 strategy and that
delineation in the ore- move from mining exploration into mining
body and the structures production. To be able to stand up a whole
in the orebody – you can new business unit and to be able to revamp
prosecute that mine with a lot of our critical business systems and
a much greater level of still give increased earnings and increased
efficiency. margins back to shareholders, that’s the
“Providing that infor- real highlight.”
mation at the start of the House also described the company’s
mining production cycle supply chain teams as the “silent heroes” of
is what’s going to unlock the past financial year.
all the benefits at every “We wouldn’t have had the 29% revenue
stage thereafter.” growth if our supply chain teams didn’t re-
IMDEX rewarded spond to some of those really strong pres-
Paul House shareholders last month sures in terms of freight lead times and the
with a 1.9c dividend – up like,” he said.
“While that product is still in commercial 42% on the FY2021 return – after posting “Coming into the end of FY2022 and
prototype today, as we continue to deploy it record revenue of $341.8 million (up 29.3%) the start of FY2023, we can genuinely see
into different geologies with different com- and record EBITDA of $104.9 million (up those supply chain pressures starting to
modities and different pain points, to get a 38.9%) for FY2022. ease. I think there’s still a risk, it wouldn’t
commercial contract win so early is obvi- The company’s success was under- take much for them to be disrupted again,
ously very pleasing and a great validation of pinned by a record number of rock knowl- but as it stands today the investment we
a lot of hard work that’s gone into that effort edge sensors on rent (up 27.1% from made in our supply chain – and the extra
over the last 4-5 years.” FY2021), the release of three new products capital we put into it – is paying off and
First production from Iron Bridge is ex- – including the OMNI sensor and IQ-LOG- those dollars will be unwound as we pro-
pected in the March quarter. Fortescue GER core technologies – and two strategic gress through FY2023.”
indicated in its last major update on the pro- acquisitions and investments.
ject that all critical path items to complete House said the underlying quality of the – Michael Washbourne
construction of the 22 mtpa operation were IMDEX business was getting “better and
now on site. better” each year, heaping praise on the

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