Iron-ore developer Core Mining’s Avima iron-ore project, in the Republic of Congo, is the most significant project in the Central African region, says company spokesperson Lauren Austin-Harvey.

“The project is significant, as high-grade iron-ore is continuous over a 40 km strike, with a 35-million-ton-a-year mine life estimated. To date, the 700-million ton direct shipping ore Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource covers 11 km and we believe there is significant upside in volume,” she explains, adding that the deposit is among the highest-quality and lowest-cost projects in Africa.

Austin-Harvey tells Mining Weekly that, since the project was started in 2010, one of the major challenges has been the current depressed iron-ore prices in China, which has subsequently led to lower equity values in
iron-ore developers.

However, she says, while the economic environ- ment is challenging, the
company is optimistic that Avima will go into production in the near future and be competitive. Core Mining plans to provide high-quality ore sought by steel majors and traders on the global market.

“Even though the project has been delayed, owing to the economic climate, it is still proving worthwhile as initial planning had shown.”

Austin-Harvey adds that the Congolese government has shown its support for the project by investing in Core Mining, raising its stake in the project to 25% in April last year.

The development of Avima is integral to that of the Central African region, as Avima will contribute significantly to the national economy of the Congo, she advances.

“The project aims to create jobs and provide skills training for local communities and there will also be benefits from improvements to the country’s infrastructure.”

Core Mining also intends to gear Avima towards facilitating the development of a business-opportunity hub for locals.

“To enable us to deliver socioeconomic pro- grammes reflecting the priorities of local com- munities, we plan to increase our knowledge and understanding of how communities can derive benefits from our presence.”