VANCOUVER,
Feb. 27, 2013 /CNW/ - Northern
Iron Corp. ("Northern" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NFE) (OTCQX-
NHRIF) (FRANKFURT: N8I), today announced the re-doubling of
efforts to educate the investment community about Canadian hot
briquetted iron (HBI), and the role it can play in addressing the
forecast global scrap steel shortage. To that end, the Company has
released its animated video 'Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) - balancing
global metallics supply and demand', part two of a three-part
educational series entitled 'The New Iron Age'. Northern Iron
will be airing 'The New Iron Age' in its entirety at its booth
#2501 at the upcoming PDAC in Toronto at the Metro Convention Centre, South
Building, from Sunday March
3rd to Wednesday March
6th, 2013.
"Northern Iron has a compelling story in working toward putting
the past producing Griffith Mine back into production. The fact
that the Griffith mine produced
sponge iron, a form of direct reduced iron referred to as DRI, and
pellets from 1968 to 1986 left us with infrastructure to access
markets in the United States via
Thunder Bay and the ability to
ship to Asia via Prince Rupert. Essentially, we have a past
producing mine with a history of producing a value-added ore based
metallic product and I might add once again, the ability to move
product and access markets, unlike the majority of potential iron
ore producers who are located in remote locations and have no
access to rail lines," says Company CEO Basil Botha. "Canadians are familiar with iron
ore but less so with ore based metallics."
"The Griffith Mine was a producer of both DRI and pellets for 18
years and we believe the metallurgy on the mine will work for the
production of HBI (hot briquetted iron) a value-added engineered
metallic and a briquetted form of direct reduced iron (DRI).
Metallurgical testing is part of our redevelopment plan for the
Griffith mine and is subject to
validation. Part two of this animated series explains HBI and its
role in steel making."
"The company will benefit from the Griffith's past production in a number of
additional ways, in that the tailings ponds are intact and require
minimal upgrading for use by the mine when it is re-opened. The
area has excellent logistics that will only require relatively
small investments to upgrade. There are all-weather roads right to
the pit, a rail bed with a right of way connecting the mine to the
main CN east west line that runs to Prince Rupert on the west coast. In addition,
we also have access to Thunder Bay
and can either barge or rail HBI into the North American
markets."
"Many people don't realize that HBI is the only direct link
between Canadian Iron ore and the electric arc furnaces that
produce roughly two-thirds of United
States steel. Iron ore pellets and concentrate cannot be
used in electric arc furnaces and produce enormous amounts of
emissions when used in blast furnaces. Steel making is changing and
even places like China are looking
to reduce their energy consumption for steel making and at the same
time cleaning up the environment. The video explains how HBI
contributes to both these objectives."
Mr. Botha went on to say; "We have significant orders from
China" adds Botha "and we have
interest from North American steel Mills. We produced this video to
help people understand both what we plan to produce and how HBI
meets the needs of the market."
About The New Iron Age:
Part Two of The New Iron Age story premieres on Wednesday February 27th, with subsequent chapters
broadcast as follows:
The New Iron Age Broadcast Schedule
Part One |
The Backbone of Civilization: a
history of steel (3:34) |
Feb 25, 2013 |
Part Two |
Hot Briquetted Iron: HBI: balancing
global metallics supply and demand (5:44) |
Feb 27, 2013 |
Part Three |
Ironclad Opportunity: re-starting
Canada's historic Griffith iron-ore mine (2:57) |
Mar 04, 2013 |
Part Trilogy |
The New Iron Age: a cleaner, greener,
infinitely more sustainable future (12:08) |
Mar 06, 2013 |
The 12-minute, three-part animation, which took
eight weeks to complete and involved five animators, is
unconventional and at times fantastical - a hybrid style developed
en-route to accommodate the delivery of inherently technical
information that is not easily visualized. The steely
narrative was voiced by Juno Award-Winning actor-musician
Jim Byrnes - whose St. Louis bluesy style seemed made for the
project.
About Northern Iron Corp.
The Company is a 100% owner of five iron ore
properties in the Red Lake
district containing over 500 million tonnes of historical resources
with grades ranging from 22% to 31% Fe. The Red Lake district is situated in an
established mining area in Ontario, where the company has two near term
development projects, the past producing Griffith mine and the Karas property.
A qualified person has not done sufficient work
to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources,
the issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current
mineral resources.
The Company is currently working towards the
production of HBI, a transportable form of direct reduced
iron. HBI is complementary and a viable metallic alternative
to scrap steel. Quality scrap is a critical raw material in the
steel making process. With the diminishing supply of quality scrap
steel and ever increasing market demand, steel producers around the
world will be looking to secure alternative supplies of metallic
products.
As part of the business plan, the Company
acquired the past producing Griffith mine, which produced pellets and
sponge iron (Direct Reduced Iron/DRI) from 1968 to 1986. The
mine was owned and operated by STELCO and supplied pellets and
sponge iron to the Hamilton and
Nanticoke steel mills in
Ontario. The metallurgy of the
deposit has been proven over eighteen years of production.
Almost the entire transportation infrastructure
is currently in place to both produce HBI and to ship produced HBI
into the North American market via rail and lake barges and into
Asian markets via rail through the port of Prince Rupert. Existing infrastructure
includes all weather roads, 115kV power line, natural gas line,
rail bed and port facilities.
The Company is focusing on de-risking the
project by seeking out potential joint venture partners, off-take
agreements or a combination thereof.
Cautionary Statement
The foregoing information may contain forward-looking statements
relating to the future performance of the Company. Forward-looking
statements, specifically those concerning future performance, are
subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may
differ materially from the Company's plans and expectations. These
plans, expectations, risks and uncertainties are detailed herein
and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with the
TSX Venture Exchange and securities regulators. The Company
does not assume any obligation to update or revise its
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange,
securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or
disapproved the information contained herein.
SOURCE Northern Iron Corp.