MIAS DensTeQ Minnesota LLC

Project Description

~~The Opportunity
Although worldwide iron ore reserves are quite large, commercial supply is limited by the costs of mining, processing, and transportation.  Readying iron ore for mill use is capital intensive.  MIAS recognizes the untapped potential to recover iron and other metal ores from 100s of millions of tons of non-commercial remains of older mines located in North America and around the world.  Utilizing these ore “dumps” and “tailings” eliminates the need for traditional drilling, blasting and excavating, thereby dramatically lowering the cost of the material.  It also protects the environment from the effects of new mining while offering an opportunity to rehabilitate and normalize old surface mine sites.  The current North American market for raw iron ore, primarily by steel mills, is approximately 140 million metric tons (Mt) per year.

The MIAS DensTeQ Solution and Business Model
The DensTeQ process was developed and tested in South Africa by Johann Grobler, an internationally known and respected mining engineer and metallurgist.  Grobler’s focus is the beneficiation of metal ores.  MIAS Group has entered into a joint venture with Grobler to commercialize the DensTeQ process in the Northern Hemisphere.
MIAS’s proprietary technologies and processes produce iron and other metal ores at a much lower cost, higher grade, and in an environmentally superior way compared to existing methods.  Current “beneficiation” methods do not yield sufficiently high purities of ore to justify re-processing of lower grade ores found in old mine dumps.  The Company’s strategy is to use patent-protection and a first mover advantage to secure the rights to these old dumps, which have typically been dormant for 50+years.    For example, in the iron ore sector, by eliminating the need for mining, excavating and crushing, the costs for producing commercial-grade ore is expected to be at least $30/Mt less than with traditional methods.  In addition, the MIAS DensTeQ technology enables highly superior separation efficiencies so that higher iron purities may be produced.  This may command a premium price from steel mill customers. 
The Company expects each mine dump project to reach positive cash flow quickly.  The capital expenditure for each production unit including testing laboratory, capable of 100,000 Mt/month is $5 million.  Conservatively, with assumptions of EBITDA of $25/Mt and a ramp up to just 60% capacity, the cumulative EBITDA reaches the $5 million capital investment after 7 months of operations.   Even with recent iron ore prices at $93/Mt, a DensTeQ installation projects to create $1.5mm to $2.0mm cash flow each month.

Protecting the Environment; the Clean-Tech Story
In addition to the cost and quality advantages inherent with MIAS DensTeQ technology, there are tremendous environmental advantages enjoyed by the Company, its customers, and the communities in which it operates, including:
- All of the products and separation mediums are 100% environmentally friendly; no hazardous chemicals are used.
- No new land is excavated, as existing scrap materials above ground are plentiful.
- Approximately 60% of material above ground will be moved, and the remaining land can then be more easily reclaimed into environmentally friendly landscapes.
- Use of higher grade iron (with lower impurities) enables steel mills to:  1) reduce energy consumption associated with the removal and processing of discarded material, 2) produce more steel with the same amount of raw material, thereby reducing coal energy use and CO₂ emissions, and 3) decrease the liability associated with adding discarded materials into slag dumps.
- Fuel and energy consumption associated with MIAS’s iron ore production is lower than that of conventional production, given there is no need to mine or crush raw ore.  Additionally the transport distances between the dumps and steel mills are typically less than between currently operating mines and mills.
- Typically, no new mining licenses and permitting are be required since operations may fall under recycling and reclamation permitting.

Project Timeline

3-6 month.