Kimberley Mineral Sands (KMS) has executed a long-term port access agreement with the Shire of Derby/West Kimberley, supporting the future export of product from the Thunderbird mineral sands project in northern Western Australia.
KMS is a 50:50 joint venture between Sheffield Resources and Yansteel, which owns and is developing Thunderbird and adjacent tenements on the Dampier Peninsula.
The deal spans a minimum period through to mid-2040 and provides KMS with long-term access to port infrastructure and a bulk handling facility at the Port of Derby.
Infrastructure at the port was previously used for the export of base metal concentrates and is suited to the export of mineral sands products.
Sheffield Resources executive chair Bruce Griffin said construction activities at Thunderbird were advancing rapidly and the project remained on track for first production in early 2024.
Yansteel is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tangshan Yanshan Iron & Steel, a privately-owned steel manufacturer headquartered in China, producing about 10 million tonnes per annum of steel products with annual revenues of about $6 billion.
Thunderbird aims to generate a high-quality suite of mineral sands concentrate products suited to market requirements, including a zircon concentrate and a magnetic concentrate that contains a high quality ilmenite suitable for smelting into chloride slag or for manufacturing titanium dioxide pigment.
