Magnum pushes Saudi pig iron project further down the road to Nevada

Magnum Mining & Exploration Ltd (ASX: MGU) has solidified its plan to produce green pig iron in Saudi Arabia from American magnetite, with its newest quarterly report showing that technical testing, corporate consolidation and steps toward listing on a major US stock exchange are all gaining momentum.

In the report of its activities up to March 31, Magnum revealed that one of its key achievements was the completion of an engineering study to test the technical viability of producing green pig iron using renewable biochar, steel plant waste and the company’s iron ore concentrate – which was achieved in collaboration with Saudi company Midmetal.

This will advance Magnum and Midmetal’s goal of developing a GHPPI production facility in the Kingdom, using high grade magnetite from the former’s Buena Vista mine in Nevada in addition to local Saudi steel mill waste.

In the same period, Magnum also consolidated its position in relation to the project by signing an agreement to take a 50 percent share of the Saudi company, and also appointed New York law firm Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP (EGS) to provide legal advice regarding the company’s listing in the United States.

Magnum bought Buena Vista, which is located close to Reno, Nevada, in 2021, and revisited its feasibility framework two years later with an assessment which showed the potential for iron ore to be concentrated to more than 68 percent iron with less than 3 percent impurities.

According to Magnum’s plans, this will be done at the processing plant attached to Buena Vista, which will crush, grind, and magnetically separate the iron from inert impurities and increase the iron concentration according to the guidance suggested above.

As part of its plan to develop Buena Vista, Magnum also increased its JORC resource in 2021 by 31 percent from 177.3 million tonnes to 232 million tonnes.

Magnum Mining & exploration has been trading at 1.5c.