The spin-off is to be called African Iron and Sage said Cape Lambert would retain a 25% stake in the new company.

Sage said the infrastructure already established at Mayoko set the project apart from its peers.

The project sits within 2 kilometres of a railway running to a port on the coast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mayoko has an inferred resource of 33 million tonnes at 35% iron, but an exploration target of between 900 million tonnes and 1.3 billion tonnes of itabirite iron ore has been set.

Sage believes the company could ask for $100 million for its 80% stake in Mayoko if it was to sell the project.

Meanwhile, the company’s other African iron ore projects are also progressing.

Cape Lambert’s wholly owned Marampa project in Sierra Leone should have a maiden JORC-compliant resource on it before the end of the year.

Sage expects the resource to be around half a billion tonnes.

Cape Lambert will then sell the asset in the first quarter of next year.

Based on other investments made in the area, Sage believes the company could receive around $500 million.

The company is also excited by its 37.2% stake in the Pinnacle Group, owner of the Kukuna iron ore project near Marampa, which Sage says could be twice the size.

At the end of June, Cape Lambert had $135 million cash.

Shares in Cape Lambert were half a cent higher this morning to 40.5c.