IMX Resources (ASX: IXR) has won a milestone new customer from China for its Phase 1 ore from Cairn Hill.
A sales contract has been struck with Juhua Group, a Chinese group, after several years of discussions to purchase ore.
Juhua Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Juhua Group Corporation, a major diversified Chinese corporation.
Under the contact, Juhua Group will acquire 420,000 tonnes of ore in calendar 2011 and then 240,000 tonnes per year for the next three years.
The final sales contract is expected to be signed by the end of February 2011.
Phase 1 is a unique magnetite iron–copper–gold direct shipping ore project, which produces a premium coarse grained magnetite product, with a clean saleable copper-gold concentrate.
Duncan McBain, managing director of IMX said, “This is an excellent outcome for IMX and Sichuan Taifeng."
He said it would diversify the customer base for Cairn Hill Phase 1 and is smart capital management on behalf of Sichuan Taifeng in respect of processing capacity, a "win – win situation.”
IMX owns 51% of the Cairn Hill project, 55 kilometres south-east of Coober Pedy, which is close to the Darwin - Adelaide railway.