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Ukraine-focused iron ore developer Black Iron (TSX: BKI; US-OTC: BKIRF) will not publish the highly anticipated feasibility study for the Shymanivske project until peace has returned to the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine.
Black Iron said in an overnight news release that its consulting engineering firm, Wood Plc. cannot meet the requirements for completing a feasibility study under Canadian National Instrument 43-101 guidelines without conducting another site visit.
Under the instrument’s guidelines, at the time of publication of the feasibility study, it needs to be reasonably justified that extraction can occur, that the envisaged infrastructure, including power, rail and port, are operational and that the foreign exchange rate can be predicted with more accuracy.
Black iron said despite it being at an advanced stage, it was unable to complete the study without verifying the operational status of all infrastructure, updating all costs previously quoted in Ukrainian hryvnia, and any other expenses that may have materially changed.
Black Iron said all its team members were safe and accounted for. Management in Canada had arranged the relocation of some women and children from families in its employ to other countries and purchased protective gear, plus provided additional funds to those remaining in Ukraine to help cover essential costs.
The Shymanivske project is 330 km southeast of Kyiv and lies in the heart of central Ukraine’s KrivBass iron ore mining district. The deposit is in the southern part of KrivBass and is less than 2 km from two open-pit iron mines owned by ArcelorMittal and Metinvest/Evraz Steel.
The project has a resource of 355 million measured tonnes grading 32% total iron and 19.5% magnetic iron, and 290 million indicated tonnes grading 31.1% total iron and 17.9% magnetic iron, using a 10% magnetic iron cut-off grade. Shymanivske also has an inferred resource of 188 million tonnes grading 30.1% total iron and 18.4% magnetic iron.
Black iron shares trading in Toronto are down more than 63% over the past 12 months at C14c apiece, which gives the company a market capitalization of C$42.53 million ($33.9m).
