Centrex Metals Ltd

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Centrex Metals
Traded as ASX:  CXM
Industry Mineral exploration and mining
Founded March 23, 2001;17 years ago (2001-03-23) in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Headquarters Adelaide , Australia
Website centrexmetals.com.au

Centrex Metals Limited is an Australia-based resources exploration and mining company. It has interests in Western Australia and South Australia. The company's chairman is notable South Australian engineer and businessman, David Klingberg.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Western Australia state in Australia

Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, and the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,529,875 square kilometres, and the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic. The state has about 2.6 million inhabitants – around 11 percent of the national total – of whom the vast majority live in the south-west corner, 79 per cent of the population living in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated.

South Australia State of Australia

South Australia is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of 983,482 square kilometres (379,725 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, and fifth largest by population. It has a total of 1.7 million people, and its population is the second most highly centralised in Australia, after Western Australia, with more than 77 percent of South Australians living in the capital, Adelaide, or its environs. Other population centres in the state are relatively small; Mount Gambier, the second largest centre, has a population of 28,684.

The company is primarily focussed on the development of the Oxley potassium fertiliser mine and processing complex in Western Australia, 125 kilometres (78 mi) southeast of the Port of Geraldton. [1] The project comprises a rare large-scale 32 kilometres (20 mi) long outcropping potassium feldspar rich lava flow. Centrex has developed a process to convert potassium feldspar into potassium fertiliser products. It also has the Ardmore phosphate rock project 128km south of Mount Isa in northwestern Queensland. [2]

Potassium feldspar refers to a number of minerals in the feldspar group, and containing potassium:

Queensland North-east state of Australia

Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).

Centrex also has active exploration for base metals at Goulburn in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales. [3] It also has exploration for gold in the Lachlan Fold Belt at Woolgarlo, 10 km west of Yass. [4]

Goulburn, New South Wales Town in New South Wales, Australia

Goulburn is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia approximately 195 kilometres (121 mi) south-west of Sydney, Australia, and 90 kilometres (56 mi) north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victoria in 1863. Goulburn had a population of 22,890 at the 2016 census. Goulburn is the seat of Goulburn Mulwaree Council.

The Lachlan Fold Belt (LFB) or Lachlan Orogen is a geological subdivision of the east part of Australia. It is a zone of folded and faulted rocks of similar age. It dominates New South Wales and Victoria, also extending into Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland. It was formed in the Middle Paleozoic from 450 to 340 Mya. It was earlier known as Lachlan Geosyncline. It covers an area of 200,000 km2.

New South Wales State of Australia

New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Tasman Sea to the east. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In March 2018, the population of New South Wales was over 7.9 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.1 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen.

Iron ore

Centrex owned several iron ore deposits on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. including at Wilgerup, 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Lock; Kimba Gap, 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Whyalla, adjacent to existing Middleback Range mines; and the Fusion Magnetite Project near Koppio.

Iron ore ore rich in iron or the element Fe

Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in colour from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the form of magnetite (Fe
3
O
4
, 72.4% Fe), hematite (Fe
2
O
3
, 69.9% Fe), goethite (FeO(OH), 62.9% Fe), limonite (FeO(OH)·n(H2O), 55% Fe) or siderite (FeCO3, 48.2% Fe).

Eyre Peninsula South Australia

The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges.

Lock, South Australia Town in South Australia

Lock is a town in the centre of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is central Eyre Peninsula's main grain storage hub, as it is surrounded by a predominantly farming community, with emphasis on cereal crop production. The town has a hotel, caravan park, motel, supermarket, post office, police station, sporting complex, golf and bowling clubs and area school. At the 2006 census, Lock had a population of 290.

Wilgerup had an approved mining lease from the South Australian government, but did not start active mining, [5] and no longer appears on the map of active projects on the Centrex web site. [6] The leases have been surrendered or expired. [7]

Eyre Iron Pty Ltd was the management company for the Eyre Peninsula Joint Venture between partners Centrex Metals Ltd and Wugang Australian Resources Investment Pty Ltd, a 100% owned subsidiary of Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation, China’s third largest steel producer.

Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation company

Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corporation (WISCO), is a Chinese state-owned enterprise. It started to operate in 1958 in Qingshan, Wuhan, Hubei, China.

China State in East Asia

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia and the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.404 billion. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area. Governed by the Communist Party of China, the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

Steel alloy made by combining iron and other elements

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, and sometimes other elements. Because of its high tensile strength and low cost, it is a major component used in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons.

Eyre Iron Pty Ltd proposed in 2011 to develop an open pit magnetite mine located in the Koppio Hills on southern Eyre Peninsula, known as the Fusion Magnetite Project. It included a processing plant site adjacent to the mine site and an underground magnetite slurry and water pipeline corridor from the processing plant to a proposed deepwater export port initially named Sheep Hill, and later Port Spencer. [8]

The port would also be served by a railway branch to carry ore from the proposed Wilgerup mine. The Government of South Australia declared the port facility a major development. [9] [10] The joint venture was wound up in 2016; [11] land purchased for the project was publicly advertised for sale in 2017. [12]

Related Research Articles

Tumby Bay, South Australia Town in South Australia

Tumby Bay is a coastal town situated on the Spencer Gulf, on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, 45 kilometres (28 mi) north of Port Lincoln. The town of Tumby Bay is the major population centre of the District Council of Tumby Bay, and the centre of an agricultural district farming cereal crops and sheep, as well as having established fishing and tourism industries.

Eyre Peninsula Railway railway on the Eyre Peninsula

The Eyre Peninsula Railway is a 1,067 mm gauge railway located on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. The system is isolated from the rest of the South Australian railway network.

Port Spencer South Australia

Port Spencer was a proposed bulk commodities port development project in South Australia, previously known as Sheep Hill. It would have been located on lower Eyre Peninsula, on the western shore of Spencer Gulf. The project was conceived by Centrex Metals Ltd for the export of iron ore from prospective iron ore deposits at Wilgerup and in the hills of Koppio on Lower Eyre Peninsula. The port project was also dependent on the approval of the Fusion Magnetite Project, which was a joint venture partnership between Centrex Metals Ltd and Wuhan Iron & Steel (Group) Co, a Chinese government steelmaking enterprise. Pending mine and port project environmental approvals and adequate capital investment, the port would have been built by Centrex Metals Ltd. In October 2016 the joint venture was wound up. In September 2018, agribusiness Free Eyre expressed interest in revisiting and optimising previous plans for Port Spencer exclusively for the export of grain.

Warramboo, South Australia Town in South Australia

Warramboo (wɔrˑræmˑbʉː) is a locality on Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia 334 kilometres (208 mi) north-west of the state capital of Adelaide and about 26 kilometres (16 mi) south-east of the municipal seat of Wudinna. It is 189 kilometres (117 mi) north of Port Lincoln on the Tod Highway and is the north-western terminus of the wheat haulage lines radiating from Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula railway. The railway line was built from 1907–1915 to develop the cereal industry. The grain silos are a distinctive local landmark of the town.

Lucky Bay, South Australia Town in South Australia

Lucky Bay is a locality in the District Council of Franklin Harbour, on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It is a terminus for SeaSA's Spencer Gulf passenger ferry and is also earmarked for future iron ore exports. Lucky Bay is located immediately north-east of the Franklin Harbour wetlands. Its adjacent waters lie within the outer boundary of the Franklin Harbor Marine Park. A ferry service crossing Spencer Gulf from Lucky Bay to Wallaroo commenced in 2006, and the dirt road connecting Lucky Bay with the Lincoln Highways was finally sealed in 2008. As of 2015, harbor expansion works are underway to facilitate future iron ore exports.

Roy Hill mine in Australia

Roy Hill is an iron ore mining project in the Chichester Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, located 115 kilometres (71 mi) north of Newman and 277 kilometres (172 mi) south of Port Hedland. With indicated and inferred reserves of more than 2.4 billion tonnes, it is set to become one of the largest mining projects in Australia. Mining operations will produce 55 million tones of iron ore per annum with an operating life of more than 20 years.

The Wilcherry Hill Project was originally a proposed iron ore mine and associated infrastructure on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It was proposed by Ironclad Mining Ltd which later merged with Trafford Resources to become Tyranna Resources. As of 2018, the Wilcherry Project is a joint venture between Alliance Resources (67.35%) and Tyranna Resources (32.65%). The venture is exploring for economic concentrations of any of gold, tin, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron, bismuth, tungsten and uranium.

IMX Resources Limited (IMX) is a dual-listed iron ore mining and base and precious metals exploration company based in Perth, Western Australia. The company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on August 17, 1994. When IMX's now-closed Cairn Hill mine commenced production in 2010 it became the first new South Australian iron ore mine in over a century. IMX was also the first Australian iron ore company to operate the rotainer bulk export system, which is now in use at a number of other sites around the country.

Tod Reservoir

The Tod Reservoir is located on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, in the localities of Whites Flat and Koppio, 27 km north of Port Lincoln. It is situated on the Tod River, the only stream on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia providing reliable flows; the reservoir is supplied by concrete channels fed from weirs constructed across the Tod River and its major tributary, Pillaworta Creek. The river was named after Robert Tod who discovered it during explorations in 1839. The Tod River flows into Louth Bay in Spencer Gulf. The reservoir is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.

Iron Road Limited is an Australian iron ore exploration and mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:IRD) in Perth, Western Australia in 2008. Its objective is to develop a world class magnetite mine and infrastructure in South Australia. It has two projects, both in South Australia: the Central Eyre Iron Project, and the Gawler Iron Project, currently in abeyance. The company's corporate office is in Adelaide.

Cape Hardy South Australia

Cape Hardy is a 20 m (66 ft) high, dune-capped granite headland on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula and which protrudes into Spencer Gulf in South Australia. It is located between the towns of Port Neill and Tumby Bay, 10 km (6.2 mi) north-northeast of Lipson Cove.

Koppio Town in South Australia

Koppio is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located on the Eyre Peninsula about 256 kilometres (159 mi) west of the state capital of Adelaide and about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Port Lincoln, and within the Tod River catchment area. While long-established agricultural activities dominate the region is also prospective for graphite and iron ore. The Koppio Smithy Museum is a local tourist attraction replete with buildings and artifacts representing the early pioneer heritage of Eyre Peninsula.

The Pilbara Railways are a collection of railways in the Pilbara region of North-West Western Australia.

Murdinga, South Australia Town in South Australia

Murdinga is a locality in South Australia located on the Eyre Peninsula about 297 kilometres (185 mi) west of the state capital of Adelaide. The name reportedly stems from an Aboriginal word for "cold".

The Braemar Alliance is a group of ASX-listed public and private mining and exploration companies with projects located in the Braemar region between Peterborough in South Australia and Broken Hill in neighboring New South Wales. The group was formed in 2011 with the intention of devising shared infrastructure solutions to provide water, power and freight corridors for the benefit of all members' projects. The Alliance's member companies have considered using existing outports and developing new ones on the eastern coast of Spencer Gulf to facilitate bulk exports, chiefly of iron ore. These include developing transshipping facilities at Port Pirie and building entirely new facilities at Myponie Point and south of Wallaroo. In July 2011, the Braemar Alliance had determined that its magnetite processing would require 50 gigalitres of water per year and that the water would be provided via a yet-to-be-constructed seawater desalination plant to be located on Spencer Gulf.

Middleback Range mountain range in South Australia

The Middleback Range is a mountain range on the eastern side of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The Middleback Range has been a source of iron ore for over a century, particularly to feed the Whyalla Steelworks. Mines in the region were first developed by the Broken Hill Proprietary Company from the 1890s and are now owned and operated by Arrium Ltd.

Tucknott Scrub Conservation Park Protected area in South Australia

Tucknott Scrub Conservation Park is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula in the gazetted locality of Whites Flat about 12 kilometres north-east of the town centre in Wanilla and about 30 kilometres north of the municipal seat of Port Lincoln.

Free Eyre Ltd is an agribusiness based on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The company's objectives include exploring and partnering in ventures designed to reduce costs across the supply chain. The company was formed after drought during the 2000s caused hardship to many of the region's growers. It is an unlisted Australian public company whose 475 shareholders represent over half of Eyre Peninsula's farming families. It was incorporated in 2007.

References

  1. "Oxley Potash Project". Centrex Metals Limited. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  2. "Ardmore Phosphate Project". Centrex Metals. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  3. "Goulburn Polymetallic Project". Centrex Metals Limited. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  4. "Woolgarlo". Centrex Metals Limited. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  5. "Wilgerup". Department of State Development, Government of South Australia . Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  6. "Wilgerup". Centrex metals. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  7. "Wilgerup, Tumby Bay, Mount Hill, Wanilla, Dutton Bay, Greenpatch and Tooligie Range (the Southern Eyre Peninsula JV Project). Joint annual reports for the reporting period 1/7/2006 to 31/1/2012, plus the Dutton Bay EL 5712 final report submitted at licence full surrender on 17/11/2016 and the Wilgerup EL 5641 final report at licence expiry 18/04/2017". Resources and Energy Group; Department of State Development (DSD) South Australia. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  8. Australian Government, Department of the Environment "Referral detail - Eyre Iron Pty Ltd/Mining/Koppio Hills South Eastern Eyre Peninsula/SA/Develop an Open Pit Magnetite Mine" Retrieved 2013-11-05.
  9. "Development Act 1993: Section 46 (1) – Notice". The South Australian Government Gazette. Adelaide: Government Printer, South Australia. 6 January 2011. p. 2. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  10. "Sheep Hill deep water port facility (Stage 1)". Planning and property. Government of South Australia. 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  11. Changarathil, Valerina (14 October 2016). "Port Spencer plan sinks as SA-Chinese venture winds up". The Advertiser. Retrieved 4 January 2018.(subscription required)
  12. "Lot L 23 & 24 S386 & 387 Lipson Cove". realestate.com.au. REA Group Ltd. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2018.