Northland Receives Dispensation for 90 Tonnes Trucks
LUXEMBOURG, LUXEMBOURG -- (Marketwire) -- 10/26/12 -- Northland Resources S.A. (TSX: NAU)(FRANKFURT: NPK)(OSLO: NAUR)(OMX: NAURo) ("Northland" or the "Company") has been granted dispensation for 90 tonnes trucks by the Swedish Transport Authority ("STA").
Northland Resources has, together with Cliffton Mining and truck manufacturer Scania, carried out trial runs with a vehicle of 90 tonnes gross weight to optimize the future traffic flow on the road between Kaunisvaara and Pitkajarvi. The trial runs have been successful and the STA has now decided to grant Northland dispensation to use trucks with a gross weight of 90 tonnes instead of the Swedish standard of 60 tonnes. The dispensation is effective as of November 2012 and until October 2013. The dispensation must be renewed each year according to standard procedure.
"We have had a very good and constructive dialogue with the STA all along," said Willy Sundling, Project Manager - Logistics at Northland. "Although we have been confident that we would receive the dispensation, we are very happy to see that the decision now has been made so that we can start transporting our high quality iron ore concentrate by the end of this year."
STA's decision is in accordance with normal procedure for dispensation on the Swedish road network (although this is the first example of regular transports with gross weights of 90 tonnes), thus includes stipulated terms e.g. safety restrictions such as reduced speed limits in populated areas and on two bridges.
Northland completed its first ore blast on October 18 and is on track to start processing the iron ore at the Kaunisvaara process plant in November. The Company plans to produce 1.4 million dry tonnes of iron ore concentrate in 2013. Production rate is expected to reach 4 million dry tonnes per annum ("dmtpa") in the third quarter of 2014.
Northland will transport its high quality iron ore concentrate by truck from the mine site in Kaunisvaara to the trans-loading facility in Pitkajarvi and by train, on the railroad "Malmbanan", from Pitkajarvi to Narvik, Norway. The first shipment of concentrate from the Port of Narvik is planned for early first quarter 2013.
Karl-Axel Waplan, President & CEO, Northland Resources S.A.
Northland is an iron ore mining company with a portfolio of a mine and projects in northern Sweden and Finland. The Company's Kaunisvaara Project will initially exploit two magnetite iron ore deposits in Sweden. The process will yield a high-grade, high-quality magnetite iron concentrate. The construction of the Kaunisvaara project in Sweden is nearing completion and mining started in October 2012. Northland has entered into off-take contracts for the entire production from Kaunisvaara over the next seven to ten years. The Company is also preparing a Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") for its Hannukainen Iron Oxide Copper Gold ("IOCG") Project in Kolari, northern Finland and for its Pellivuoma deposit 15 km from the Kaunisvaara process plant.
Contacts:
Northland Resources S.A.
Karl-Axel Waplan
President and CEO
+46 705 104 239
Northland Resources S.A.
Peder Zetterberg
Acting CFO
+46 708 652 120
Northland Resources S.A.
Anders Antonsson
Vice President - Investor Relations
+46 709 994 970
www.northland.eu
