London Mining Plc was formed in April 2005, after it secured an option to acquire a private Canadian company, Hammersmyth Management Ltd, which owned 100% of the Isua magnetite iron ore deposit in Greenland.
In July 2005, an independent review of the Isua project was conducted by International Mining Consultants, which estimated JORC qualified Indicated-Inferred Mineral Resources for Isua totalling 1.055 billion tonnes averaging 34% Fe.
In October 2005, London Mining raised £1,000,000 with RAB Capital Special Situations Fund. These funds were used to exercise the option over Hammersmyth Management, to complete an exploration programme over Isua, to investigate securing other iron ore projects, to complete an AIM listing on the London Stock Exchange and to fund overheads.
By November 2005, London Mining had digitised 124 technical reports on the Isua project written between 1965 and 1997. It commenced exploration on the Isua deposit by sending two 40kg samples to SGA in Germany for preliminary metallurgical testing by SGA in Germany. This test work showed the Isua ore could be upgraded to 71% Fe and 1.5% SiO2. London Mining began a bulk sampling programme in November 2005, whereby 47t of rock samples were bagged, flown by helicopter to a nearby fjord, then shipped to the capital of Nukk where they were containerised, then exported to SGA in Germany in January 2005.
In December 2005, London Mining secured an option over the defunct Marampa specular hematite iron ore mine in Sierra Leone from Tecsbaco International Incorporated Company Limited. Marampa was previously in production between 1933 and 1979 and between 1982 and 1985. Tecsbaco refurbished the port loading facilities at Pepel in 2004 and 100,000t of processed iron ore concentrates remain at the port ready to be shipped. A hydrograph survey of the Pepel port area was completed by John Bailey & Assoc and clearing of the Pepel to Marampa railway line was completed in December 2005. Engineering studies on the port, trains, rolling stock and railway are planned to follow.
In January 2006, London Mining raised £200,000 with a private company. These funds were used to secure the option over the Marampa mining operation and to expedite the development of this project.
In February 2006, UK-based Belmont Management Consultants Ltd completed a preliminary environmental report on the Marampa mine and Pepel port with no major adverse findings. London Mining sent a one tonne sample of the Marampa tailings to Australia for metallurgical testing by Australian-based Trical Mining & Metallurgical Services.
In March 2006, Chinese engineers from Gerchi Strategic Constructions & Parking Co. Ltd studied the condition of the locomotives at the Pepel port and assessed that they would need to be replaced. Trical completed its metallurgical test work on the one tonne sample from the Marampa tailings deposit and showed the tailings could be upgraded to 65.9-67.0% Fe and 2.9-3.7% SiO2.
Year 2
In April 2006, Australian-based Metplant Engineering Services Pty Ltd and Trical Mining & Metallurgical Services assessed the potential of re-establishing a mining operation on tailings at Marampa. They concluded a mining operation was possible and the best transport solution was to re-use the Marampa to Pepel railway line. International Mining Consultants also assessed the resources at Marampa and estimated an Indicated tailings resource of 39.4 million tonnes, with further potential for 8.3 million tonnes in five satellite deposits.
In May 2006, London Mining completed eight months of negotiations to secure an option over an operating itabirite iron ore mine in Brazil. Two 1tonne samples of the fines stockpile and tailings material, respectively, from this mine site were air freighted to Australia for metallurgical testing. Also in May, the Isua licence in Greenland was transferred to London Mining Plc and London Mining moved to its current offices.
In June 2006, preliminary metallurgical testing of the fines stockpiled material from Brazil showed it can be upgraded to around 66.3% Fe and 2.9% SiO2. London Mining raised a further £500,000 from various investors at 50 per share. It also signed up Hanson Westhouse as its nominated advisor and stockbroker.
In July 2006, SGA completed its metallurgical testing of a 47 tonne bulk sample of Isua magnetite ore. It showed that with crushing, grinding, magnetic separation and reverse silica flotation, a final product could be produced with an Fe-content of >71 % and a silica content of <1.5%
In August 2006, Hanson Westhouse and London Mining raised £732,300 at £1 per share from various investors and financial institutions.
In September 2006, London Mining signed an agreement with Shandong Yuansheng International Trading Company Ltd in Qingtao, China for it to invest £45 million in London Mining at £2 per share. Shandong also signed a long-term off-take agreement to purchase London Mining's iron ore production.
In November and December 2006 the Company placed £1.65 million of convertible redeemable secured loan notes with RAB Capital and applied the proceeds to staged purchase payments for the Mining lease in Sierra Leone
In February 2007, the Company placed £3 million of convertible secured loan notes with Altima Partners and RAB Capital. Proceeds were applied to a performance guarantee to sign the Sale and Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of Minas Itatiaiucu Ltda, as well as development work in Sierra Leone and general working capital.
In March 2007 the Company completed a £7.675 million equity finance with Altima Partners at £1 per share to fund Greenland and Sierra Leone feasibility studies and general company development.
Year 3
In April 2007 London Mining completed a private placement through Oslo-based Pareto Securities of NOK244m (USD40.5m) in equity at NOK18 (USD3.00) per share and NOK370m (USD61.5m) in a secured 11.5% 5 year redeemable bond.
In May 2007, London Mining acquired 100% of the share capital of Minas Itatiaiucu Ltda, which owns and operates an iron ore mine in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Luciano Ramos (previously with CVRD in general management, project implementation and process engineering roles) was appointed head of London Mining’s Brazilian operations.
In September 2007, London Mining completed a private placement through Pareto Securities of NOK320m (USD57m) in equity at NOK17 (USD3.00) per share
In October 2007, London Mining completed an IPO through Pareto Securities of NOK9.7m (USD1.6m) in equity at NOK17 (USD3.00) per share and listed on the Axess Market of the Oslo Stock Exchange on 9th October 2007.
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