Feasibility study gives thumbs up for Richmond Mining’s Buena Vista iron project.

The recently completed feasibility study carried out on the Buena Vista project, located in Nevada, USA, has, according to the company, confirmed the project to be, “an economically robust, long-life iron project which will generate substantial returns for the company and deliver significant benefits to local Counties and the State of Nevada.”

Perth-based Richmond had a weekend as good as its AFL doppelgangers with highlights from the study including applying a conservative 10 year average Freight On Board concentrate price of US$110 per tonne the project Net Present Value, after tax and capital expenditure is US$133 million with an Internal Rate of Return of 33%.

Free cash flow after tax from the first 10 years of operation is US$478 million.

A JORC standard Indicated Resource of 65 million tonnes, with an initial Probable Ore Reserve of 59Mt has been achieved, which Richmond said is, “sufficient to underpin the initial 10 year production profile.”

The study was based solely on accessing ore from the West deposit, for an initial output of 1.75 million tonnes per annum of concentrate, to be produced on site.

Ore will be directed via a 40 kilometre slurry pipe to a rail siding at Colorado Junction, from where it will then be transported to a port located in the San Francisco/Delta region of California.

Richmond is confident of the project’s ability to push on past the current life indicated by the study.

“The existing resources and known exploration targets have the potential to significantly exoand the project’s life past the initial 10 years,” the company said.

“This potential should underpin a long-life operation at Buena Vista.”

Over the coming months Richmond will be focusing on securing necessary approvals for the project and to get all the funding for its development in order.

Richmond expects the project to deliver its first ore for beneficiation by the fourth quarter of 2012.