In just four years, BC Iron went from first drill hole to iron ore exports.

Benefitting from the right asset at the right time and supportive partners, BC had its inaugural profitable quarter in December 2011.

Now cash flow positive, managing director Mike Young and his team are considering the best regions to grow its iron ore business.

Among the few parameters Young has set are that any considered project must have direct-shipping-ore or near-DSO potential.

With such a broad scope, BC is throwing the net wide.

First and most obviously, will be consolidation opportunities in the Pilbara and WA.

North and South America and West Africa are the next likely destinations.

Young already has exposure to West Africa through a director position with ASX-listed Waratah Resources.

Waratah, formerly a gold play, is now focused on iron ore in Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Primed to expand, BC is in an enviable position.

Its Nullagine JV in the Pilbara (held 50% by Fortescue Metals Group) hit its straps in the three months to December 31, shipping 1.1 million tonnes of ore - slightly above expectations.

It was the launching of an additional shipment of ore which brought about the maiden profitable quarter for BC.

"We had been mining at full rates for a couple of months and building the stockpiles which meant the cash flow had been neutral up until December," he said.

The JV is on track to export 3.5Mt by the end of 2011-12 and has a longer term target of 5Mt per annum, capped by its shipping capacity.

The Nullagine mine is as simple as they come. It's a straightforward surface miner job with a true DSO product.

The ore is trucked 55 kilometres via a bitumen road to FMG's Christmas Creek operation, from where it is moved 260km by rail to Port Hedland.

There's still work to be done at Nullagine, namely firming up further resources and reserves.

"This quarter we will be doing upgrades," Young said.

"We've got Bonnie East, which has 9 million tonnes of inferred material at 57 per cent and most of that will convert to reserves.

"The guys have drilled it and the assays have come back with no surprises."

Investigating beneficiation of non-DSO resources will also be a focus for early this year.

Nearly twice as much of BC's DSO material is 54% grade, some of which may be amenable to a simple dry-screening processing.

This will produce a "beneficiate-before-shipping" ore (BBSO).

"By June this year, I want to be able to access every mineable tonne of iron ore on our Nullagine leases," Young said.

Young forecasts BC will have $A60-80 million cash on hand by that time.

Spurred by this, the hunt for another project has begun, initially close to home.

"We had a good think about our business development strategy and we determined that our only priority is iron ore," Young said.

"The first place we look is the Pilbara, and then Western Australia generally."

The reason is because BC possesses what Young calls good "bureaucratic intellectual property"

"Knowing now what we know about the approvals process, we could shave three to six months off the development timeline for starting a mine in WA," he said.

"It's about starting the approvals process sooner than you assume would be necessary.

"The bureaucratic process for Aboriginal Heritage and environmental approvals takes longer than it should, so be prepared."

As FMG expands its capacity, there may be an option for BC to move beyond 5Mtpa in the region.

"We've got a good relationship with them and the JV model works," Young said.

In the western Pilbara, BC has a foothold with the Bungaroo project and with the expansion of the Anketell port, there is the opportunity for joint ventures in this area.

The parameters BC has set for new projects are that they must have DSO or BBSO potential and they will preferably be near the FMG rail or planned rail network.

"In WA, we will consider a project right from the grassroots level," Young said.

"Once you move out of WA we will look more towards projects that have at least had first-pass drilling."

This leads to the exciting prospect of finding an overseas venture.

The appointment of a new business development manager at BC will work to this end.

"The reason I joined Waratah was to get an understanding of how Africa works," Young said.

"We need to get in there and do some more investigation as to whether it's a jurisdiction we want to be in.

"The thing that BC brings to the table is that we understand and can overcome a lot of the hurdles associated with going into production."

The BC board's focus for 2011-12 has been to hit the targets at Nullagine.

"We've done that, so now we're actively looking for a BD manager; we want to bring somebody in to this office who lives and breathes business development," Young said.

Young said the company would not be overly prescriptive in the search for a growth asset.

"There are a lot of ways to skin a cat," he said.

"You could find a large deposit which the Chinese will take off your hands; that provides a gain to shareholders.

"Or you could find a small, rich deposit such as Nullagine, which is efficiently brought into production."

There are many options for funding the next project, including debt.

"My recent trip to New York showed me that there is cash around. For a company like ours with the margins we have, many groups have indicated that, if required, they will lend us money.

"In New York they're shying away from the equity market because returns are volatile."

Among others, BC has fielded interest from Hong Kong and Singapore regarding expansion capital.

Just as BC Iron was part of the Pilbara renaissance for junior miners, it is now poised to repeat this success in places such as West Africa, one of the world's premier exploration hotspots.

*A version of this report, first published in the January/February 2012 edition of RESOURCESTOCKS magazine, was commissioned by BC Iron