The fundamentals of proximity to coast, low capital and operating cost models and a well-planned exploration strategy applied to promising geology have served IronRidge well over the past two years as the company has slowly but consistently attracted attention to its west African properties.

As a result of this inconspicuous groundswell, IronRidge has pulled off a decidedly unlikely coup in the global iron ore space - listing on London's AIM stock exchange last month, with the placement of some 96.5 million shares raising 9.7 million pounds.

The IPO followed a tenacious roadshow effort for two

highly prospective projects covered by three granted licences in Gabon, and included the securing of two major cornerstone investors in South African iron, chrome and manganese specialist Assore and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation.

"We've certainly done what everyone said we couldn't do," IronRidge chief executive Vincent Mascolo told RESOURCESTOCKS on the morning of the float.

"I keep telling the investor community, ask yourself how and why we have continued to procure interest which has ultimately culminated in our securing this spectacular deal. If you answer that question, you're likely to invest."

IronRidge expects to benefit from Sumitomo's knowledge in global materials marketing and Assore's unique familiarity with mining high-grade deposits in Africa and hopefully, future financing support.

Mascolo sees the faith demonstrated by these long term-focused partners as signifying the economic viability of his company's Gabonese plans, even as the iron ore price waivers in the immediate term.

"With the three of us, a junior explorer, a mining specialist and a worldwide trading house mining and industrial conglomerate, it's going to be quite a formidable team," he said.

"They saw a unique opportunity in us that once we formalise a discovery, it doesn't really matter what the iron ore price does. At $US60 per tonne, we will still make an attractive margin."

The upside in IronRidge's flagship Tchibanga project is largely rooted in its almost unheard-of proximity to the coast, just 60km from the planned port of Mayumba. For an iron ore project, this is a critical advantage, which provides opportunity for a modest trucking-transhipment operation to get cashflows moving while construction of the export facility progresses.

"Iron ore in general is an infrastructure project with a mine at the end of it, but as we're 60km from coast, it becomes a mine with a small infrastructure project attached to it," Mascolo said.

"If other companies can marginally make money at up to 600km from coast, we can certainly make a lot more money at 60km from coast."

With the AIM listing under its belt, the company is now moving on plans to sample, map and prioritise 21 identified targets before pushing an intense drilling campaign for about 15,000 linear metres.

A maiden resource is expected within 12 to 18 months.

The upcoming exploration has been accelerated by about $2 million worth of previously acquired Falcon gravity and other extensive geophysical data which IronRidge procured opportunistically after thorough research. That helped rapidly identify the specific targets and differentiated them from unprospective terrain.

"Most junior explorers might raise only $5-6 million, so they're not about to spend $2-plus million on flying geophysics," Mascolo said.

"But for us, it saves up to three years and $20 million of work. We have already identified some 21 drill target areas. We know where we don't want to drill. It's a huge advantage.

"We are focusing early on the program on identifying where we are going to get the richest resource the quickest, so we can get rapidly into cash flow. Low capex and high net value to capex ratios with achievable capital exposures to start with will be a successful strategy we think."

Ultimately, IronRidge aims to establish not just a mine or two, but an entire iron ore province in Gabon. The company says its conservative desktop studies at Tchibanga are ultimately contemplating a 1 billion tonne resource made up of 200 million tonne resource at 62% iron and 800Mt at 50% iron.

This would accommodate a 35Mt per annum run-of-mine operation with a conservative operating cost of $44.40/t sold over a 29-year mine life. At this scale, Tchibanga's net present value was projected to be $4.8 billion at $75/t iron ore prices.

"We don't doubt in a context of an inexorably urbanising world that the long run price is higher," Mascolo said.

Naturally for a company with ambitions on this scale, IronRidge has its eye on a rapidly developing logistics scenario in its tenure area as the Gabon government roles out an impressive $14.4 billion infrastructure program. This work has included a nearly completed road from the town of Tchibanga to Mayumba and a seven-span, combination rail and road bridge.

"The government is very proactive and supportive of resource development projects," Mascolo said.

"Predominantly, their revenue comes from oil and gas, so they realise that Gabon as a nation to develop and move forward needs to open the doors to the greater mining and investment community.

"The benefit for us is a first-mover advantage with respect to infrastructure and access to the facilities."

Progress on the infrastructure front will continue to roll out as Tchibanga phases from resource definition to scoping then prefeasibility work, and first up, a small starter operation. In the meantime, the explorer expects to benefit from the development expertise offered by its biggest investors, sidestepping the usual junior struggles related to sifting through information provided by costly consultants.

For Mascolo, it all boils down to project fundamentals and the long-range vision needed to publicly launch a company in a sector where near-sighted punters are easily mislead by a prevailing sense of doom.

"When you contemplate the iron ore space, no one's doing it because everyone's struggling, and that's due to logistic issues generally," he said.

"Not the case for us though. It's really testament to the quality of our assets."

*A version of this report, first published in the March 2015 edition of RESOURCESTOCKS magazine, was commissioned by Ironridge Resources.