Carpentaria Exploration Ltd.: Pelletising Tests Confirm Hawsons Supergrade a Standout Material for Iron Making

Brisbane, Feb 16, 2016 - Emerging iron producer Carpentaria Exploration (ASX:CAP) announced today results of recent test work from the Company's flagship Hawsons Iron Project demonstrating that its Supergrade product is amongst the world's best iron ore pellet feeds and can produce top tier iron ore pellets, that will be keenly sought by buyers.

The tests, from the China Iron and Steel Research Institute (CISRI), showed pellets made from 100% Hawsons Supergrade gave outstanding results based on buyers' criteria, namely high iron and low slag content, superior physical properties and excellent iron making characteristics.

The superb results meet the exacting specifications provided to Carpentaria by direct reduction iron (DRI) producers. Results also showed the Supergrade product, when added to typical Chinese pellet blends, provided substantial improvement in the chemistry, strength and iron making performance of typical Chinese pellets.

Commenting on the results, Carpentaria's Managing Director, Quentin Hill said: "These results are a real boost for our product marketing programme and a significant step forward for Hawsons. They provide more confidence in the product quality and performance as we build buyer support across the DR market, the Chinese pellet feed market and the Asian high grade blast furnace market.

"High quality raw materials such as Hawsons Supergrade are increasingly important to end users seeking to increase productivity and curb pollution during steel making. This trend is likely to be more pronounced in coming years and high quality raw materials can attract significantly higher prices than standard iron ore, for example, DR pellet prices are typically over USD $40/t more than the standard 62%Fe index price," he added.

Located 60km south-west of Broken Hill, the Hawsons project has access to existing rail, road, port and power infrastructure, with its uniquely soft ore allowing for simple liberation of a premium magnetite product without expensive processing methods.

The project's low costs and world class product is attracting buyer support and the Company plans to convert this interest into project investment and position Hawsons as the preferred and ready project to meet the next iron ore development cycle.

Carpentaria has requested CISRI to produce over 50kg of pellets next month from the Supergrade concentrate produced last quarter, which will then be available for direct reduction iron making tests.

"The Hawsons project has a bright future as a long term, low cost source of premium iron products. With a Supergrade product, a super location and super competitive costs, we are confident that we can attract the investment required to develop the project further and deliver increased value for shareholders," Mr Hill said.

Composition (%)   Supergrade    Supergrade     Midrex DR
                  Pellet Feed   pellets       Specifications*
                 (ALS, CISRI)  (CISRI) Fired
                                at 12300C
Fe                   70.3          67.80       67.00 min.
SiO2                 1.99           2.39
Al2O3                0.29           0.44
SiO2 + Al2O3         2.28           2.83       3.00 max.
P                   0.007          0.008       0.030 max.
S                   0.001          0.003       0.008 max.
TiO2                 0.11           0.10       0.15 max.
CCS (Kg/pellet)                     324       >250 

Table 1 Hawsons specifications based on recent bulk test work at ALS Iron Ore Technical Centre (ASX Announcement, 14 October 2015) , Perth and CISRI (February 2016). *P8 The Midrex Process by Midrex 2015.


About Hawsons Iron Project

The Hawsons Iron Project joint venture (Carpentaria 62%, Pure Metals P/L 38%) is currently undertaking a bankable feasibility study based on the low cost, long term supply of a high grade, ultra-low impurity iron concentrate to a growing premium iron market.

The project has a clear technical and permitting pathway. It is located 60km southwest of Broken Hill, an ideal position for mining operations with existing power, rail and port infrastructure available for a conceptual 10 Mtpa start-up operation. A mining lease application has been lodged.

The project's soft rock is different from traditional hard rock magnetite and allows a very different approach to the typical magnetite mining and processing challenges (both technical and cost-related). The soft rock enables simple liberation of a Supergrade magnetite product without complex and expensive processing methods.

The Company is targeting the growing premium high grade product market, which is separate to the bulk fines market, and believes its targeted cost structure is very competitive and profitable at consensus long-term price forecasts for this sector.

The project is underpinned by Inferred and Indicated Resources totalling 1.8 billion tonnes at 15% mass recovery for 263 million tonnes of concentrate grading at 69.7% Fe. The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new data that materially affects this resource statement since the first public announcement and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the resource estimates continue to apply and have not materially changed since first reported (ASX Announcement 26 March 2014 and Table 2 in link below).

To view all tables and figures, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/82738-ASX-CAP-20160216.pdf


About Carpentaria Exploration Limited

Carpentaria Exploration Ltd. (ASX:CAP) is an emerging producer of iron ore in eastern Australia. The company currently has a majority interest in the Hawsons Iron Project, in addition to other magnetite interests in the emerging Braemar Iron Province.



Contact

Carpentaria Exploration Limited
Quentin Hill, Managing Director
Phone: +61-7-3220-2022
e-mail: info@capex.net.au