Junior iron ore explorer, the Kerry Stokes-controlled Iron Ore Holdings has lifted its Iron Valley mineral resource estimate by 50%.
Shares in the company were placed in a trading halt on Monday ahead of a resource upgrade, which was announced yesterday .
The boost saw the shares trade down 2 cents to 82 cents, despite the better tone to the market.
Iron Ore Holdings said the increase in the estimate at the Iron Valley project in WA’s Pilbara, represented a rise from the 88.2 million tonne resource announced in March of this year.
The company said in the statement studies indicated 67 million tonnes of resource, with a further 65.2 million tonnes inferred, for a total of 132.3 million tonnes.
The updated resource includes a high grade direct shipping ore (DSO) component of 85.9 million tonnes.
The company said the resource would support a five million to 10 million tonne a year mine development with the potential to be a low-cost, low strip ratio operation.
"In just 10 months the Iron Valley project has moved from a new discovery to a substantial JORC indicated and inferred mineral resource of high-quality Brockman-style direct shipping ore," Iron Ore Holdings managing director Matt Rimes said in the statement.
Iron Ore Holdings said it is moving toward first production next year.
The wholly-owned project lies adjacent to Rio Tinto Ltd’s Yandicoogina and BHP Billiton Ltd’s Yandi iron ore mines.
Rural services company Elders Ltd (formerly Futuris) says it has reached agreement with its lenders to extend short dated debt for three months, allowing time to refinance the facilities.
Elders said in a statement on Tuesday that the debt would be extended from June 30 to September 30. The move has been flagged for a month.
"The extension has been put in place to provide sufficient time to enable orderly completion of the refinancing of the current financing facilities into a new syndicated facility," the statement to the ASX yesterday said.
Elders said it anticipates that the refinancing will be concluded by 30 September 2009.
But the cost will be stiff: Elders said the costs of extending the debt so far have $10 million before tax.
"To date, Elders has incurred costs associated with the extension and refinancing of approximately $10 million before tax; inclusive of the extension fees and the costs of its own advisers and those of advisers to the banks and note holders that it is obliged to pay under the terms of its lending arrangements.
"The increase in interest rate paid is equivalent to an average increase of approximately 300bp above the existing cost of debt," the company said.
Elders said it had sufficient financial capacity for the extension period including current available bank facilities and unrestricted cash of approximately $180 million.
The shares rose 1.5 cents to 28.5 cents, up 9.2%.
Two contracts wins for small listed building and engineering contractors.
The first saw Hastie Group, the aircon and refrigeration contractor, reveal two contracts wins in the UK worth 19 million pounds or nearly $A39 million.
The contracts are for mechanical, electrical and public health services work.
The first, worth approximately $30 million, is for work on the new vocational College of Westminster in London, a project funded by the UK government, with work is due for completion in September next year.
The second contract, worth around $8 million, is for work on an office tower at Media City, a $2 billion development in Salford planned as the new home for the BBC and other media organisations.
Work is due for completion in February 2010.
Hastie shares fell 1 cent to $1.27
And the Norfolk Group says its O’Donnell Griffin Rail arm has secured a $96.5 million contract for rail signalling relocation and installation for BHP Billiton Iron Ore’s Rapid Growth Project 5 in the Pilbara.
The bulk of the contract, which is expected to run for 18 months starting now, will see a total overhaul of the current signalling installation to improve transit times from mine to port.
David Howe, General Manager of O’Donnell Griffin Rail, said the company has been involved in the previous asset development and expansion works carried out by BHP Billiton Iron Ore over the past decade, including works associated with the Rapid Growth Projects 2, 3 and 4 (currently being completed).
“We are pleased to be involved with RGP5, given its importance to the ongoing mining focus in WA and further enhances our reputation in the North West to deliver challenging and complex signalling installation projects.” said Mr Howe.
The company said this contract award follows other significant rail contract wins, including the Novo Rail Railcorp Program Alliance (NSW) and the ONTRACK electrification upgrade project in Wellington, new Zealand.
Norfolk shares rose half a cent to 55 cents.
And its officially goodbye to Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group after security holders voted in favour of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s (CPPIB) $2.2 billion takeover bid.
Security holders met in Sydney yesterday to vote on the proposal, with proxy votes alone meeting the requirements for its approval.
CPPIB is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors and has extensive interest
