Adriana Accessing Brazil’s Vast Iron Ore Reserves

Dr. Allen M. Alper and Bryan Martin

Mike Beley and Rick Barclay are brilliant business partners. The two exploration veterans have a wealth of experience as evidenced in Metals News’ recent interview with them. Their new venture, Adriana, will probably signal to the prospective investor a unique opportunity given their years together as partners. In the midst of a monumental corporate transformation, Beley and Barclay made time to share with us some insight into their extensive history together as well as to give us more than a glance into the workings of Adriana. I’m proud to mention that I played a role in this transformation. A couple a years ago I interviewed Mike and Rick for a feature article in Metals News and I became aware of their great knowledge and business acumen regarding iron ore, Brazil, ports and shipping. I immediately thought of them when my friend Victor Webb from Marston Webb International introduced Alexander Kollontai to me. Alex explained that he had very innovative and strategic ideas for bringing millions of tons of iron ore to the Chinese market that have been bottlenecked in Brazil with no port that would allow shipment to China. He said he was looking for a partner that had the ability to turn his dream of a Port in Brazil to access millions of tons of iron ore into a reality. I then introduced Alex to Mike and Rick at the Union Club in NYC and a revolutionary business plan was created and the stages were executed. I was pleased to witness the synergy of the group unfold.

The story begins in the mid-‘70s when Rick and Mike, who also co founded aggregate shipping entity, Polaris Minerals Corporation, seized on favorable circumstances to form Bema Industries. With the help of maverick CEO Clive Johnson and his real-deal team of management gurus, Bema, which skyrocketed to become a household name in North America, went on to become Bema Gold Corporation. In a $3.5 billion deal just last year, Bema Gold merged with Kinross Gold.

In 1990, the team of Beley and Barclay decided it was time to leave Bema, and together with partner Gary Nordin, the gentlemen formed Eldorado Gold Corporation (not necessarily as a footnote, it should be mentioned that both Bema and Eldorado became multibillion dollar market cap companies). Seizing on the momentum of their vast prospects, the group followed through putting into production several mines in Mexico. Not long after, the partnership branched out even further by finalizing a deal with South African gold group Gencor and solidifying its assets in Brazil with the Sao Bento gold mine. A few years ago I interviewed Mike and Rick for Metals News. “With that experience in Brazil, we were able to understand and go forward with the iron ore port concept that was brought to us by Alex Kollantai of Athena Resources out of New York,” notes Barclay.

Although the group has been extremely industrious managing its holdings in Canada and Europe, it is Brazil that Barclay and Beley now consider the cornerstone of Adriana’s future enterprise as a daring yet well-honed competitor in the iron ore shipping industry. It is here Beley brings up the uniqueness of their recent acquisition of port land in Brazil and elaborates. “Our company’s definitely at a point of transition. We’ve been working hard to assemble a number of assets around the world, in Northern Canada and Northern Quebec, Finland and Brazil. The highlight and focus of our work now exists in Brazil where we acquired a port site and are now working at developing that port site and spinning off some of the other assets, so the company is being transformed into a new vehicle focused specifically on iron ore with its resources in Brazil and Quebec.”

In November of last year, and in advance of their interest in securing iron ore in Brazil, Adriana purchased 750,000 square meters just outside Rio de Janeiro in the Sepitiba port region in order to enable them a delivery point to the market. Barclay and Beley estimate construction time on the port to take approximately 12 to 18 months to complete, beginning later this fall or winter, with an opening projected for the first or second quarter of 2010. Although an unusual approach to mining, the proceedings for the port are all complete and development is under way. “We are now in the process of looking to secure those resources and develop that further, so it’s been quite a unique approach, and we’ll see what unfolds in the next legs,” adds Beley.

Despite this iconoclastic and daring approach to tackling the demand for a commodity such as iron, the importance of Adriana having a strategic port site for its intended operations cannot be overstated. For one, there’s really no other feasible way to deliver the iron ore, which is initially just the raw components, to the market, and resources in limbo with nowhere to go “have no real asset,” according to Beley. Taking this advanced step in their marketing schemata will enable Adriana to deliver to the market and ultimately develop relationships with companies able to encourage the entire operation to blossom, to “add to that integrated supply line from mine to the client and through World-Link, our Chinese partner, we will be able to bring shipping to the markets and clients in China. And so now all we have to do is secure the iron ore resource to add to that,” summarizes Beley.

Brazilian iron ore source waiting to be developed


Alteration zone marking chromite horizon within Muskox Intrusions

Outside of Brazil, Adriana is just as busy with its other projects. The Lac Otelnuk and December Lake iron projects, multibillion ton formations north of Schefferville have had successful drill campaigns in 2007. Later this year the team anticipates expanding those resources, eventually following through with a 43-101 compliant resource projected for early 2009. Rounding out their remaining Canadian interests is MIE. Based in Nunavut, the operation centers around a platinum, palladium, copper nickel deposit which experienced a very successful drill program last year.” We developed a brand new and world class style of base metals mineral deposit, the potential for the platinum copper nickel,” Barclay enthuses, including their intent to spin it out into a separate company over the next six months called MIE Metal Corporation to be listed on the TSX, the shares of which eventually will be dividended to Adriana shareholders.

Currently in scoping study outside of North America, Adriana is steady at work on their titanium iron vanadium project based in Finland. Over the course of this year Barclay and Beley plan on spinning that operation out into yet another separate company to be listed in Europe. “In this way, we’ll have a focused iron company with our Quebec iron deposit and our port in Brazil, and we’re actively pursuing opportunities to acquire iron assets in Brazil to complement the port facility,” concludes Barclay.

Beley is not one bit shy relaying Adriana’s uniqueness in its approach to a historically by-the-numbers market. “I guess at this point in time, we feel very strongly that Adriana is very undervalued. It’s seen as a company that’s a mining group with a mining background, has assembled a good package of assets, but we have been successful on every front, and so it’s effectively eluded the focus of the company, and so I think the market is maybe not clear on exactly what we’re doing.”

Indeed infrastructure is crucial and the sui generis nature of mining iron ore in Brazil while spinning off its non-core assets puts Adriana in a class all its own, especially in light of the promise of securing its reserves as their port establishment fleshes out in the next couple of years.


Because of their optimism in acquiring a resource so highly sought after in recent years, not to mention Barclay and Beley’s instrumental determination in establishing successful companies, the two remain confident in a very significant appreciation in value of their operations. A smile can almost be heard over the phone as Beley patently articulates. “We have a lot of experience and knowledge of this business. And so I think that’s a very strong asset in moving Adriana into the future.”