Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – February 27, 2013. Northern Iron Corp. (“Northern” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: NFE) (OTCQX- NHRIF) (FRANKFURT: N8I), today announced the re-doubling of efforts to educate the investment community about Canadian hot briquetted iron (HBI), and the role it can play in addressing the forecast global scrap steel shortage. To that end, the Company has released its animated video ‘Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) – balancing global metallics supply and demand’, part two of a three-part educational series entitled ‘The New Iron Age’. Northern Iron will be airing ‘The New Iron Age’ in its entirety at its booth #2501 at the upcoming PDAC in Toronto at the Metro Convention Centre, South Building, from Sunday March 3rd to Wednesday March 6th, 2013.
“Northern Iron has a compelling story in working toward putting the past producing Griffith Mine back into production. The fact that the Griffith mine produced sponge iron, a form of direct reduced iron referred to as DRI, and pellets from 1968 to 1986 left us with infrastructure to access markets in the United States via Thunder Bay and the ability to ship to Asia via Prince Rupert. Essentially, we have a past producing mine with a history of producing a value-added ore based metallic product and I might add once again, the ability to move product and access markets, unlike the majority of potential iron ore producers who are located in remote locations and have no access to rail lines,” says Company CEO Basil Botha. “Canadians are familiar with iron ore but less so with ore based metallics.”
“The Griffith Mine was a producer of both DRI and pellets for 18 years and we believe the metallurgy on the mine will work for the production of HBI (hot briquetted iron) a value-added engineered metallic and a briquetted form of direct reduced iron (DRI). Metallurgical testing is part of our redevelopment plan for the Griffith mine and is subject to validation. Part two of this animated series explains HBI and its role in steel making.”
“The company will benefit from the Griffith’s past production in a number of additional ways, in that the tailings ponds are intact and require minimal upgrading for use by the mine when it is re-opened. The area has excellent logistics that will only require relatively small investments to upgrade. There are all-weather roads right to the pit, a rail bed with a right of way connecting the mine to the main CN east west line that runs to Prince Rupert on the west coast. In addition, we also have access to Thunder Bay and can either barge or rail HBI into the North American markets.”
“Many people don’t realize that HBI is the only direct link between Canadian Iron ore and the electric arc furnaces that produce roughly two-thirds of United States steel. Iron ore pellets and concentrate cannot be used in electric arc furnaces and produce enormous amounts of emissions when used in blast furnaces. Steel making is changing and even places like China are looking to reduce their energy consumption for steel making and at the same time cleaning up the environment. The video explains how HBI contributes to both these objectives.”
Mr. Botha went on to say; “We have significant orders from China” adds Botha “and we have interest from North American steel Mills. We produced this video to help people understand both what we plan to produce and how HBI meets the needs of the market.”
About The New Iron Age:
Part Two of The New Iron Age story premieres on Wednesday February 27th, with subsequent chapters broadcast as follows:
The New Iron Age Broadcast Schedule
Part One The Backbone of Civilization: a history of steel (3:34)
Feb 25, 2013
Part Two Hot Briquetted Iron: HBI: balancing global metallics supply and demand (5:44)
Feb 27, 2013
Part Three Ironclad Opportunity: re-starting Canada’s historic Griffith iron-ore mine (2:57)
Mar 04, 2013
Part Trilogy The New Iron Age: a cleaner, greener, infinitely more sustainable future (12:08)
Mar 06, 2013
The 12-minute, three-part animation, which took eight weeks to complete and involved five animators, is unconventional and at times fantastical – a hybrid style developed en-route to accommodate the delivery of inherently technical information that is not easily visualized. The steely narrative was voiced by Juno Award-Winning actor-musician Jim Byrnes – whose St. Louis bluesy style seemed made for the project.
About Northern Iron Corp.
The Company is a 100% owner of five iron ore properties in the Red Lake district containing over 500 million tonnes of historical resources with grades ranging from 22% to 31% Fe. The Red Lake district is situated in an established mining area in Ontario, where the company has two near term development projects, the past producing Griffith mine and the Karas property.
A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, the issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources.
The Company is currently working towards the production of HBI, a transportable form of direct reduced iron. HBI is complementary and a viable metallic alternative to scrap steel. Quality scrap is a critical raw material in the steel making process. With the diminishing supply of quality scrap steel and ever increasing market demand, steel producers around the world will be looking to secure alternative supplies of metallic products.
As part of the business plan, the Company acquired the past producing Griffith mine, which produced pellets and sponge iron (Direct Reduced Iron/DRI) from 1968 to 1986. The mine was owned and operated by STELCO and supplied pellets and sponge iron to the Hamilton and Nanticoke steel mills in Ontario. The metallurgy of the deposit has been proven over eighteen years of production.
Almost the entire transportation infrastructure is currently in place to both produce HBI and to ship produced HBI into the North American market via rail and lake barges and into Asian markets via rail through the port of Prince Rupert. Existing infrastructure includes all weather roads, 115kV power line, natural gas line, rail bed and port facilities.
The Company is focusing on de-risking the project by seeking out potential joint venture partners, off-take agreements or a combination thereof.
Cautionary Statement
The foregoing information may contain forward-looking statements relating to the future performance of the Company. Forward-looking statements, specifically those concerning future performance, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the Company’s plans and expectations. These plans, expectations, risks and uncertainties are detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with the TSX Venture Exchange and securities regulators. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.
For further information, please contact:
Basil Botha
President & CEO
Northern Iron Corp.
Tel: 604-566-8570
Fax: 604-602-9868
Email: bbotha@northernironcorp.com
Website: www.northernironcorp.com