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A time to excel in critical minerals

trandline Resources Ltd has completed port of Geraldton. At the time of print, Strandline had five
Sa fair chunk of the hard work required to An experienced campaigner in project de- sales contracts in place covering over 90%
be in a development position at the Coburn livery formerly as regional general manager of Coburn’s forecast revenue for the first five
mineral sands project in Western Australia’s of Sedgman Pty Ltd, Graham now leads a years of production, with the agreements
Gascoyne region, but managing director team set to excel at Coburn. accounting for all ilmenite, rutile, zircon con-
Luke Graham and his team are only entering “Probably important to note for investors, centrate and a substantial portion of the pre-
their element now. is that first principle repayment of the bond mium finished zircon for that period.
Strandline arrived at a final investment is scheduled for March 2024, nearly three While global supply is diminishing for the
decision on Coburn in early May and there years away, and more than 12 months af- products to be extracted from Coburn, de-
appears few headwinds in the way of the ter our first scheduled production,” Graham mand is increasing and Strandline is lever-
company reaching first heavy minerals con- said. aged to further upside in price movements
centrate (HMC) production from the wet con- “This provides a really strong, really good with material not already locked up in off-
centrate plant in Q4 2022. grace period to build cash in the business takes potentially dealt with prior to project
When the company released the Coburn before that first repayment. First principle re- commissioning.
DFS in mid-2020, the biggest perceived risk payment of the NAIF facility is even further According to TZMI, Strandline will be
from the outside to project development was delayed, starting in 2029.” delivering into a market whereby zircon is
finance. Capital of $338 million is required to con- tipped to hit $US1,529/t, rutile $US1,139/t
Such is the critical nature and shortening struct the 100%-owned project. and chloride ilmenite $US283/t in 2023.
supply of the content at Coburn – zircon, il- A workforce of 300 people will be needed There is greater potential for mine life ex-
menite and rutile – the funding conundrum to build Coburn, while a 150-strong team tensions beyond the current plus-20 year
for Strandline was answered with well- will be needed for a project touted to last an Coburn project, which used to be second
rounded support. initial 22.5 years producing annual EBITDA rung in Strandline’s mineral sands portfolio.
NAIF funding amounting to $150 million, of $104 million for 34,000 tpa zircon, 54,000 Fungoni in Tanzania had been billed as
a $US60 million senior secured bond issue tpa zircon concentrate, 24,000 tpa rutile and the company’s flagship for some time, how-
followed by a fully underwritten $122 million 110,000 tpa ilmenite. ever, with conditions for miners in the coun-
placement and institutional equity raising Facilities at Geraldton Port have been se- try deteriorating since 2017, Strandline’s
has paved the way for immediate construc- cured for shipments to off-takers in Europe, hand was somewhat forced to extract value
tion of Coburn, 240km north of the Mid West China and the US. where it could and that meant bringing Co-

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