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Venture is set to start
production from its Riley
iron ore mine in Tasmania
this quarter

Christmas who all said which shows how tight supply is,” Ra-
they loved the WA ex- donjic said.
ploration but not the All of which should make Mt Lindsay’s
iron ore. But once iron 80,000t of contained tin an attractive
ore hit $US150/t, their proposition for investors and buyers.
attitudes towards Riley Finding the right investment proposi-
changed overnight and tion is Venture’s task. The last feasibil-
they were ready to see ity study was completed in 2018 at a
us first thing in Janu- The high tungsten content at Mt Lindsay $US20,000/t tin price and while eco-
ary.” has encouraged Venture to pursue grant nomically viable, the marginal nature and
The January capital funding from the Federal Government’s big capex ($200 million) made it a difficult
raising was followed by Critical Minerals Facilitation Office sell for Venture.
further success after “We were asking ourselves what to
Chalice began work on rently makes up about 50% of the mar- do with Mt Lindsay,” Radonjic admitted.
the South West nickel- ket so there is a crunch between de- “The problem was twofold – financing
copper-PGE project, mand being widened and supply being and permitting. Then we identified that by
demonstrating Ven- constrained. There is only one way for going smaller on capacity and also tak-
ture’s recent knack for tin to go, and that’s up.” ing it underground we could potentially
perfect timing. Traders are already positioning for kill two birds with one stone.
“I’ve had several in- the expected upswing in demand. Tin “We were able to reduce the capex
vestors commenting on prices hit $US30,000/t for the first time from $200 million to $50 million. So, the
our recent timing,” Ra- in a decade in February and in May plan hasn’t changed since 2013 – use
donjic said. “When we broke all-time records, crashing through Riley to self-fund much of Mt Lindsay
put Riley on care-and- $US34,000/t as end-users feel the tight- – but the scale has. Capex at Mt Lind-
maintenance in 2014 ening of supply. say is down to $50 million and even on
who could’ve predicted “Both times it was because a manu- a $US90/t iron ore price Riley produces
the Samarco disaster in facturer has run out of semi-conductors, $90 million.”
Brazil and the onset of As well as tin, Mt Lindsay boasts 3.2
COVID and the impact million mtu tungsten, an increasingly in-
they would have on iron demand material given its position on in-
ore prices? ternational critical minerals lists.
“So, when I woke up “Tin is only 40% of the Mt Lindsay story
on Friday morning [May with tungsten providing another 40% and
7] to a record iron ore magnetite the other 20%. So, we will es-
price, and then a record sentially be mining the tin and tungsten
tin price, I just thought; for free as the magnetite will cover the
‘this timing is getting mining costs,” Radonjic said.
even better’.” “That makes it the most profitable tin
If iron ore’s recent record run could project out there because we are not just
be shorter-lived – Westpac expects spot at the mercy of the tin price alone, cash
prices to be back below $US100/t by costs are very cheap.”
June 2023 – projections over tin’s future The inclusion of tungsten and their lo-
consider a longer-term supply/demand cation on Tasmania’s West Coast make
imbalance. Mt Lindsay and Riley politically attractive
Like copper, nickel and lithium, tin to both state and federal governments.
prices appear set to benefit from a com- “The State Government is very keen
bination of a lack of new opportunities, on the project,” Radonjic said. “It will
restrictions on existing supply and ris- bring jobs and opportunities to what is a
ing demand from the electric transport marginal seat; both locally and federally.
revolution. “On the tungsten at Mt Lindsay, we
“Tin is the metal most impacted by have already put in an application for a
new technology, from EVs, to renewa- grant to Federal Government’s Critical
bles and charging stations,” Radonjic Minerals Office to fund the tungsten pro-
said. “In EVs alone, there is five times cessing circuit. We see a big opportunity
more tin than in an ICE. The Internation- there.”
al Tin Association has said 30% more
tin will be needed by 2030 just for EVs. – Dominic Piper
“At the same time, the LME has said Drillers in the mist. Andrew Radonjic (in
that by 2022 it will not accept tin which blue) has led Venture’s exploration efforts on
is not responsibly sourced. That cur- Tasmania’s West Coast since 2008

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