Our Projects

Iron Ore Projects in Madagascar

AKORA’s Madagascar iron ore projects are Bekisopa, Satrokala, Tratramarina and Ambodilafa.

The Company’s flagship Bekisopa Iron Ore Project has a 194.7 million tonne (mt) Inferred JORC Resource with very low impurities able to produce a premium-priced +68% Fe concentrate. Direct Reduced Iron-Electric Arc Furnace (DRI-EAF) technology which is used to make greener steel without coal and considerably less carbon emissions requires iron ore grades of at least 67%.

To generate cash in the near-term, AKORA is advancing plans at Bekisopa to produce up to 2Mt per annum over the first five years of a 60% Fe average grade direct shipping ore (DSO) for shipping to Blast Furnace-Basic Oxygen Furnace (BF-BOF) steelmakers.

Bekisopa was acquired by AKORA in mid 2014. The Project is located 220km from the west coast and is accessed from Antananarivo, the Malagasy capital, along the sealed national highway 7 and then dirt tracks. The nearest local village is some 17 kilometres from the exploration site.

The significant scale and particular mineralisation characteristics of Bekisopa’s iron ore resource presents the Company with several staged development options over time:

1. Produce 60% Fe average grade DSO:
Mine, crush and screen at surface iron ore to produce a 60% Fe average grade lump and fines product for shipping to BF-BOF steelmakers.

2. Produce +62% Fe grade DSO fines:
Mine, crush and screen ore to produce a +62% Fe grade fines product for shipping to BF-BOF steelmakers.

3. Produce premium-priced +68% Fe grade concentrate:
Using cash generated from Stages 1 and 2, add grinding and magnetic separation circuits to upgrade ore to a +68% Fe concentrate at 75 microns for shipping to DRI-EAF steelmakers.
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The Satrokala Project is located just 40km to the west of our flagship Bekisopa Project and offers considerable upside advantage to our development of the area.

AKORA’s Tratramarina and Ambodilafa projects on the east coast have the exploration potential for a sizable upgradable iron ore resource. Tratramarina is only 16 kilometres and Ambodilafa is less than 50km off the deep water east coast. These tenements were obtained in 2011 and AKORA has carried out geological evaluations and an initial drilling program at both sites that intersected banded iron formations.