Alien Metals Ltd’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Iron Ore Company of Australia Pty Ltd (IOCA), has selected Rapid Crushing & Screening Contractors Pty Ltd as its preferred supplier to undertake the crushing and screening operations at the flagship Hancock iron ore project in the Pilbara of Western Australia.

IOCA says it has conducted a competitive market engagement over the previous six months to identify commercially and technically-adept contractors to undertake works as part of the Hancock development and operations. This process has involved pre-qualified and targeted proponents, submitting bids for specific scopes of works and agreeing to key commercial terms.

Rapid Crushing is a market leader in iron ore, having previously worked with Fortescue Metals Group and being the incumbent contractor at Galaxy Lithium for the past six years, with that work continuing. The selection of Rapid Crushing for crushing services reinforces the assumptions made within the scoping study to deliver a C1 cost of approximately $60 per tonne, Alien Metals says.

The 2021 scoping study on Hancock showcased a 1.25 Mt/y production profile that would sustain an eight-year life of mine with current resources. The company has said it plans to make its first shipments in 2023, leveraging its direct shipping ore options.

Earlier this month, IOCA named REGROUP Australia as its preferred primary contractor to undertake the construction works, mining operations and haulage services for Hancock.

The selection of Rapid Crushing – which remains subject to the completion of a positive definitive feasibility study – paves the way to finalise the updates to the financial model as the IOCA continues to progress the remaining studies and regulatory workstreams required for a final investment decision for the Hancock project, it says.

Troy Whittaker, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are pleased to announce that Rapid Crushing has been selected as the preferred tenderer for crushing and screening operations at our Hancock project. Rapid Crushing’s significant hard-rock mining knowledge and experience, particularly in iron ore, will be of great benefit to our overall operations.

“We will be working closely with Rapid Crushing to finalise optimisation activities that support the accelerated DFS work streams related to price opportunity as we prepare and execute the contractual documents.

“The selection of Rapid Crushing finalises the material procurement efforts for the project. This will result in a high level of validated and secured costing for the Hancock project.”