South Australian South Australian Iron Ore Projects Iron Ore - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Western Plains Resources Ltd

South Australian South Australian Iron Ore Projects Iron Ore Projects

Bob Duffin, Executive Chairman Bob Duffin, Executive Chairman RIU Sydney Resources Roundup RIU Sydney Resources Roundup 12 May 2009 12 May 2009

May 12, 2009 2

RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 2 12 May 2009

IMPORTANT NOTICE

• This presentation contains forward looking statements concerning the

projects owned by WPG. Statements concerning mineral resources and

• re reserves may also be deemed to be forward looking statements in

that they involve elements based on specific assumptions

• Forward looking statements are not statements of historical fact, and

actual events or results may differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements as a result of a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors. Forward looking statements are based on WPG’s beliefs, opinions and estimates as of the date they are made and no

• bligation is assumed to update forward looking statements if these

beliefs, opinions and estimates should change or reflect other future developments

• Data and amounts shown in this presentation relating to capital costs,
• perating costs and project timelines are based on consultant reports,

contractor quotes and internally generated estimates

• Port user charges are assumptions but cannot be relied upon until port
• perators finalise their own plans
• WPG cannot guarantee the accuracy and/or completeness of the figures
• r data in this presentation
• All dollar amounts indicated in this presentation are in Australian dollars

unless otherwise stated.

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 3 12 May 2009

Key Corporate Information

Directors:

– Bob Duffin (executive chairman) – Heath Roberts (executive) – Gary Jones (executive) – Bob Richardson (non executive) – Len Dean (non executive) – Lim See Yong (non executive)

Executives

– Martin Jacobsen (COO) – Greg Harding (CFO) – Myles Fang (Business Development - China) – Larissa Brown (Assistant Secretary)

Cash: $1.9m (30 March) Directors control 26m voting shares plus

• ptions

Good core group of top 50 shareholders Issued shares 81.3m Unlisted options 12.8m Fully diluted 94.1m Market capitalisation $36m (at $0.38/share)

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 4 12 May 2009

Our Key Iron Ore Projects

• DSO: Peculiar Knob ML 6314 and

Buzzard and Tui (MC 3810) deposits at Hawks Nest

• Magnetite: Kestrel (MC 3809) and

Goshawk, Harrier, Eagle, Kite and Falcon (EL 4248) at Hawks Nest

• Peculiar Knob is 90 km S of Coober

Pedy, 15 km NW of Prominent Hill mine and 85 km E of the Adelaide-Darwin railway line

• Hawks Nest tenement EL 4248 (within

which MCs 3809 and 3810 lie) is 115 km SSE of Coober Pedy, straddles Stuart Highway and is 45 km east of the railway line

• All tenements lie within the Woomera

Prohibited Area

• It is approximately 600 km by rail from

Wirrida siding to Port Bonython, 800 km to Adelaide and 2,150 km to Darwin

• Road/rail haulage from PK to Port

Bonython virtually identical to Portman’s Koolyanobbing - Esperance road/rail haulage distances

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 5 12 May 2009

Status in Development Cycle

• DSO - Peculiar Knob

almost fully permitted and virtually shovel ready for development

• DSO – Buzzard and

Tui a little further back in development pipeline

• Hawks Nest magnetite:

Farmed-out to WISCO in $45m deal but subject to completion

• f documentation and

government approvals

• Commonwealth Hill –

WPG farming into tenements with known iron ore prospects and

• ther exploration

targets

• Mt Brady: New ELA by

WPG with known iron

• re intersections and

good exploration potential

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 6 12 May 2009

Peculiar Knob DSO

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• BFS completed September

2007

• Simple specular haematite

deposit; high grade Fe with virtually no impurities

• Very sharp break between ore

and wall rocks

• Lies beneath 15-30 m cover
• Effectively all resource reports

to reserves

• LOM W:O strip ratio 3.6:1
• Lump: fines - 35%:65%

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 7 12 May 2009

Mineral Resource Estimates Totals – DSO Deposits

Category Million Tonnes Fe % P % SiO2 % Al2O3 % LOl % Measured resource 25.5 62.9 0.03 7.7 0.8 0.7 Indicated resource 9.3 61.6 0.05 9.5 0.7 0.8 Inferred resource 2.6 63.0 0.04 7.8 0.5 0.5 Total resource 37.4 62.6 0.03 8.2 0.8 0.7

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 8 12 May 2009

DSO - Status of Approvals

• Peculiar Knob feasibility study completed Sept 2007
• PK Native Title Mining Agreement executed Sept 2007
• PK ML granted June 2008
• Deed of access for mining and associated infrastructure (haul roads,

camp, crusher plant, rail siding) executed with Defence January 2009

• Water licences granted April 2009
• PK MPLs ready to be lodged; MARP in final stages of preparation
• Haul road access agreements with other EL holders and pastoralist

compensation agreements nearing completion

• Expect all necessary agreements and permits for PK to be in place by

September 2009 but we could bring this forward

• Hawks Nest DSO permitting ~12 months behind PK
• Buzzard feasibility study finished August 2008
• Access deeds for exploration in place with native title claimants and

Defence but these will need to be upgraded for mining purposes

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DSO Infrastructure

We have Defence’s approvals for PK mine and infrastructure but still need to

• btain approval

for Buzzard

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 10 12 May 2009

Mineral Resource Estimates Magnetite Deposits

• Kestrel
• All magnetite

Category Million Tonnes Fe % P % SiO2 % Al2O3 % LOl % Measured resource 100 37 0.06 37 0.8 0.6 Indicated resource 60 36 0.06 38 1.0 0.8 Inferred resource 60 36 0.06 39 1.1 0.8 Total resource 220 36 0.06 38 0.9 0.7 Category Million Tonnes Fe % P % SiO2 % Al2O3 % LOl % Kestrel – measured, indicated and inferred 220 36 0.06 38 0.9 0.7 Goshawk - inferred resource 148 35

• Harrier - inferred

resource 54 35

• Eagle - inferred

resource 92 31

• Kite - inferred

resource 30 51

• Falcon - inferred

resource 25 32

• Total resource

570 36

• 10

Clear potential to increase total resource to >1 billion tonnes with further drilling

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 11 12 May 2009

The WISCO Magnetite Deal – Key Elements

• Effectively, WISCO will sole fund first $45m to earn a 50% JV

interest in the Hawks Nest tenement (excluding Buzzard DSO)

• WISCO cannot withdraw until it has spent $25m and if it does then

its interest will be 28%

• Money will be spent on BFS/exploration/development
• WPG’s interest cannot fall below 50% and WISCO’s cannot be

>50%

• WPG will be manager of the JV (BFS and production stages)
• WISCO will subscribe for 15% of WPG’s capital ($3m) and

nominate 1 person to join WPG’s board

• WISCO to have right to purchase part of WPG’s share of cons
• WISCO will assist WPG with capex and Port Bonython
• Deal is subject to completion of Transaction Documents, FIRB and

NDRC approvals

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 12 12 May 2009

Kestrel Magnetite

• Kestrel is a BIF that outcrops at

Hawks Nest

• Drilled to 135m depth over strike

length of 1,200m with lines 100m apart

• Total resource 220 mt at 36% Fe
• Excellent metallurgical

characteristics – 45% mass recovery to concentrate without fine grinding nor flotation

• Scoping study to produce 6 mtpa

magnetite concentrate completed April 2008

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 13 12 May 2009

Woomera Prohibited Area

• Administered by the

Commonwealth Department of Defence

• Covers 127,000 km2 -

same size as England

• Formerly used for space

research; now used for the testing of war materials

• There are many pastoral

leases, opal diggings and major mines inside it

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 14 12 May 2009

Woomera Prohibited Area

• We have agreement with

Defence to operate the Peculiar Knob mine and infrastructure

• We have exploration

agreement with Defence for Hawks Nest

• Hawks Nest not as sensitive to

Defence as Instrumented Range and area E of Highway and S of 300 S but under “flight path”

• We will need agreement with

Defence to carry out mining at Hawks Nest

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Further Potential - Hawks Nest Exploration Targets

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Further Potential - Commonwealth Hill Farm-in

• WPG can earn

75% interest by spending $1.5 million

• Magnetics and

gravity data collected in March 2009 quarter at Wirrida and Ibis prospects suggestive of DSO and magnetite targets

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 17 12 May 2009

Further Potential – Mt Brady

• New ELA lodged

April 2009 by WPG

• Just to the NW of

the Cairn Hill magnetite/Cu/Au deposit

• Previous

intersections of 5.8m @ 61.9% Fe and 6.5m @ 61.1% Fe with Cu credits

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 18 12 May 2009

Port Options

• Port Bonython near

Whyalla: New port to be developed by Flinders Ports for Capes, shortest rail distance, most efficient port and smallest carbon footprint – optimal port solution

• Adelaide: We are

working on an innovative plan. It can handle Panamaxes – short term but sub-

• ptimal port solution

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 19 12 May 2009

Port Bonython

• Currently no Capesize-capable dry

bulk port in South Australia

• Flinders Ports (privatised SA

Harbours Board) has monopoly

• ver all 7 public ports in SA
• Port Bonython currently a private

port used for wet bulks by Santos but land is zoned for port development and is owned by SA Government

• Port Bonython is ideally located to

service the emerging dry bulk export market in SA – will capture Eyre Peninsular and Gawler projects if properly planned

• SA Government called for EOIs for

development of port in May 2008

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 20 12 May 2009

Port Bonython

• New facility will be connected to

the standard gauge rail network

• Capacity will be 20 mtpa
• Capex expected to be about

$500m all up (vs $3.6bn for Oakajee in WA – also 20 mtpa)

• SA Minister for Transport said Oct

08 that the port will be operational in 2011

• There is already much industrial

development here already including one of Australia’s largest petrochemical facilities

• BHP's ODX desalination plant will

be built at Port Bonython

• Also Stuart Petroleum/Scott Group

500Ml diesel plant

• And a larger refinery by Diamond

Fuels too

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 21 12 May 2009

Comparison with Portman – DSO Only!

• Same distances mine/siding/port
• PMM mining commenced 1995 at 1 mtpa
• At Dec 97 PMM resource had grown to 37

mt with reserves 15.1 mt at 63% Fe

• WPG’s DSO resource now 37 mt and

reserves 28 mt at 62% Fe

• PMM resource grew after mining started

by exploration

• PMM acquired

by Cliffs Nov 2008 for $3.3 bn

• Why can’t WPG

reproduce this?

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85 km mine/siding; 580 km siding/port 100 km mine/siding; 575 km siding/port

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 22 12 May 2009

Some Perspectives

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WPG’s iron ore will be a major contributor to the South Australian economy

Sources: Agricultural and mineral products from South Australia at a Glance, 2007. Port tonnages from Flinders Ports website. WPG projections for 2009/10 (DSO only) and 2012/13 (DSO plus magnetite)

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RIU Sydney Resources Roundup Presentation 23 12 May 2009

COMPETENT PERSONS

• The review of exploration activities and results and the mineral resource estimates for the Peculiar Knob,

Buzzard and Tui DSO deposits and the non-Kestrel magnetite deposits at Hawks Nest contained in this presentation are based on information compiled by Mr Gary Jones, a Member of the Australasian Institute

• f Mining and Metallurgy. He is Technical Director of Western Plains Resources Limited and a full time

employee of Geonz Associates Limited. He has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the December 2004 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code). Gary Jones has consented in writing to the inclusion in this presentation of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

• The mineral resource estimate for the Kestrel magnetite deposit at Hawks Nest contained in this

presentation is based on information compiled by Mr Arnold van der Heyden, a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He is an employee of Hellman & Schofield Pty Ltd. He has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the December 2004 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the JORC Code). Arnold van der Heyden has consented in writing to the inclusion in this presentation of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.