Australia Grange Resources said that the mineral resource at its Southdown iron-ore project has grown to almost 700 million tonnes as the company pushes ahead with a definitive feasibility study.

The mining company said in a statement that an USD 8.3m drilling program has lifted the magnetite resource to 698m tonnes from the last estimate of 654mt a year earlier.

The increase is expected to flow into improved ore reserves, which managing director Mr Russell Clark said will boost financier and investor confidence in the overall project.

Grange said a pre-feasibility study was completed in early 2011 and a definitive study is due by the end of the first quarter of 2012.

The Southdown deposit, 70% of which is owned by Grange while Japanese trading company Sojitz Corp holds 30% is about 12k in length and located near the Port of Albany on the south coast of Western Australia.

Grange has estimated that it will cost almost USD 2.6 billion to complete a mine, concentrator and infrastructure to load and ship about 10 million tonnes a year of magnetite concentrate.

The company in September 2011 appointed Standard Chartered to look at funding options, which the mining company recently said could include the sale of other assets, although no such process is under way.

(Sourced from www.theaustralian.com.au)