Having acquired two large-scale iron ore projects in the politically stable and investment-friendly Republic of the Congo in June 2010, managing director and chief executive officer John Welborn has spent the last 18 months reshaping Equatorial Resources into an aggressive explorer with a foot in the door of what he believes will be the world's next major iron ore region.

"The Pilbara and parts of South America are currently the premier iron ore regions in the world and Africa is increasingly being seen as home to the world's third great endowment," he said.

"The simple puzzle that we use in our presentations shows the west coast of Africa fitting like a jigsaw into South America - it illustrates that the mineralisation and geology of the two continents is identical but while the Pilbara and South America are supplying multi-million tonnes to end-users like China, Africa is currently an untapped frontier.

"The reality is that central and west Africa host a number of undeveloped, world-class, high-grade iron ore deposits and while there is the potential to supply over 30 per cent of the world's seaborne iron ore, the region currently delivers less than 0.3 per cent to global markets.

"We believe this will change in the coming years as market demand and the quality and scale of the iron resources in Africa drives the development of new production."

With a combined exploration target of more than 7 billion tonnes, Equatorial's 100%-owned Mayoko and Badondo projects will be key to delivering Welborn's long-term vision of emulating the success of iron ore giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

"We are focusing our attention on developing the region's potential with assets that give us a fantastic foundation footprint and the opportunity to become one of the region's major players," Welborn said.

Located in the nation's south and north respectively, Mayoko and Badondo are situated at two ends of the exploration and development spectrum.

With its 6bt exploration target at an expected iron grade of up to 65%, the flagship Mayoko project covers 1000sq.km intersected by an operational bulk haulage railway line connecting it to the deepwater port of Pointe Noire.

Easily accessible by road and surrounded by a large population, the project focus is the identification of direct shipping ore and a rapid move through to production utilising the existing transport network.

"There are some inspirational projects being developed in the iron ore space in Africa and those that make it to production are usually the ones that have access to existing infrastructure," Welborn said.

"With its existing railway and demonstrable near-surface high grade mineralisation, Mayoko gives us an opportunity to get into production very rapidly."

A current 33,000m drilling program at the project's 12km-long Makengui prospect has been designed to define the extent and grade of the hematite and magnetite mineralisation, with early assay results confirming the potential for high-quality DSO.

In December, Equatorial secured 100% ownership of two new prospecting permits at Mayoko over an additional 3500sq.km, increasing its acreage holding by 270% and making it the dominant landholder for iron in the Republic of the Congo.

With the potential to host valuable and large iron deposits, the company has since commenced ground geological reconnaissance work and is planning an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey this year over the entire permit area.

The Badondo project is in the remote northwest jungle region of the Republic of the Congo, within a regional cluster of world-class iron exploration projects including Mbalam and Nabeba (owned by Sundance Resources) and Avima (Core Mining).

With early exploration activities centred on an airborne geophysical survey and follow-up field exploration program, Welborn said the ongoing issue facing regional operators was the establishment of rail and port solutions to support proposed mining developments.

"The development of a regional transport infrastructure network has the potential to unlock massive iron deposits and provide access to world markets," he said.

"Some operators in the region are looking at constructing their own facilities and given the massive capital expenditure required, it is reasonable to expect that there may be some sort of amalgamation in an investment or shared usage context.

"Badondo is a big project which will eventually need a lot of supporting infrastructure but we are still at a very early stage and wehave lots of value to add before we can enter into those sorts of discussions.

"We are in the process of proving up Badondo's exploration target of more than 2 billion tonnes and are excited by rock chip samples from surface that have graded as high as 68 per cent iron, which is almost pure hematite.

"We are confident it will be a very significant asset in the region and potentially, the jewel in our crown."

For all their differences, Mayoko and Badondo also have enough similarities to make them an ideal fit for Equatorial's immediate strategy of delivering a medium-scale project in a short timeframe using existing infrastructure, as opposed to proving up a major resource requiring significant capital expenditure, strategic partners and lengthy periods of construction.

"The iron potential of Makoyo and Badondo was originally discovered by the French national geological research group BRGM, which has identified an enormous amount of past successes in French west Africa," Welborn explained.

"Both projects also have a very large body of magnetite banded iron formation running through them, on top of which sits a weathered zone of supergene-enriched hematite mineralisation. That mineralisation is very high grade with low impurities making Mayoko and Badondo ideal sources of DSO."

Quality over quantity is what the company favours, according to Welborn.

"It is easy to have lots of early stage projects on your plate but the trick is to have ones that are capable of going all the way," he said.

"We have expanded our footprint at Mayoko because we are confident we have the ability to take that project through to production in the near-term.

"As for Badondo, it is a challenging and potentially-enormous project which we are chipping away at.

"I do not believe it is represented at all in our current market capitalisation and I am hoping that will change this year as we release more drilling results."

Until then, Equatorial will continue to roll out its aggressive exploration program at both projects, estimated to cost around $20 million and wholly funded by the company's $40 million bank balance.

"We are on a pathway to developing two high-grade projects with potentially billions of tonnes of mineralisation in a region with existing transport infrastructure backed by a very motivated management team and a country that is desperate to develop a robust mining industry," Welborn said.

"The next 12 months will be an integral part of what is becoming an incredibly exciting journey."

*A version of this report, first published in the March 2012 edition of RESOURCESTOCKS magazine, was commissioned by Equatorial Resources