The Wadi Sawawin iron ore deposits are located in the Northern Hijaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia approximately 125km from Tabuk and 60km from the Red Sea port of Duba. The formations were discovered in 1953 and during the following 40 years they were investigated by various authorities, principally British Steel Consultants Ltd. The deposits are between 600m and 1,100m above sea level in mountainous country. In January 2008, London Mining entered into an agreement with NMC to form a 50/50 joint venture company, SLI, to develop the deposits. NMC is a Saudi company owned by crown and industrial interests. HRH Prince Nawaf Bin Sultan Bin Abdul-Aziz is the Chairman of NMC. SLI intends to develop the Wadi Sawawin open pit iron ore project to create an iron ore mining and pelletising operation to produce DR pellets to supply steel production in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and North Africa Region.

In January 2009, independent mining engineers Ausenco/SEI completed a pre-feasibility study that showed that the Wadi Sawawin project with production of 5Mtpa DR pellets was feasible. London Mining completed a bankable feasibility study ("BFS") for the project in December 2009. The BFS was completed on the basis of a production capacity of 5Mtpa DRI Pellet for a 14 year mine life.  The BFS assumes capex of USD1.6Bn and opex of USD58/t pellets (assuming power and water are provided by a third party) or capex of USD2.0Bn and operating costs of USD47/t if a power and desalination plant is included in the project. 

London Mining now plans to complete further drilling and resource verification and it is expected that the BFS could be revised to a 20 year mine life at 5Mtpa capacity.  The current schedule assumes to be financing secured by the end of 2010. This would allow for construction to commence in H1 2011 with an expected start-up in H2 2013.

London Mining and NMC are currently in detailed discussions with Saudi Bin Ladin group regarding a joint venture to build, fund and operate the project.