ASX-listed Magnetite Mines has lodged a detailed mining lease proposal (MLP) with the South Australian government for its flagship Razorback iron-ore project.

The project, located 240 km north-east of Adelaide in the Braemar Iron Formation, is poised to produce five-million tonnes a year of premium-grade magnetite concentrates - raw material tailor-made for green iron production via direct reduced iron (DRI) technology. 

With an eye on scalability to ten-million tonnes, the proposal underscores Magnetite’s ambition to anchor the nascent green steel industry.

“This is the starting line for iron-ore mining at Razorback, but it’s also the opening of an entirely new Australian mining province,” said Magnetite MD Tim Dobson in a statement. He hailed the MLP - nearly 900 pages of technical, economic, and environmental analysis - as a testament to years of groundwork and a springboard for a “long-life” operation aligned with global decarbonisation trends.

The submission dovetails with the Australian federal government’s recent unveiling of a A$1-billion Green Iron Fund in February, aimed at leveraging the country’s vast renewable energy and magnetite resources. South Australia, under Premier Peter Malinauskas, has also thrown its weight behind the cause, launching a Green Iron and Steel Strategy and soliciting proposals for a new industrial ecosystem. 

Magnetite Mines, through its Green Iron consortium with partners like Flinders Ports and Aurizon, is positioning Razorback as the foundational supply chain piece.

The Department for Energy and Mining will now kick off a validity review, expected to wrap up by mid-2025, followed by public consultation.

Since 2022, the company has recalibrated Razorback to target DRI-grade output, a pivot spurred by steelmakers’ decarbonisation pledges. Last year, it inked a preliminary deal with JFE Shoji Australia, a subsidiary of Japan’s JFE, signaling potential joint venture firepower. Meanwhile, its Green Iron SA consortium has been pitching Razorback as the bedrock of South Australia’s green iron ambitions.