Atlas Iron to establish processing and haulage hub

Thursday, 02 September 2010 11:57:11 (GMT+2)

Emerging Australian iron ore miner Atlas Iron Limited has announced its plan to establish a centralized processing and haulage point to underpin its expansion has been strongly supported by a pre-feasibility study.

The company said that the planned Turner River Hub will blend and process ore from three of Atlas' four northern Pilbara iron ore projects, namely Wodgina, Abydos and Mt Webber, in preparation for transport to the new Utah Point Port Facility at Port Hedland, which is 95 km away from the planned hub.

The hub, which is planned to have an annual capacity of 10 million mt, will reduce per unit costs, and bring the benefits of blending ore types from multiple sources, resulting in optimum prices and longer mine lives.

The investment paves the way for the company to increase production from the current planned rate of 6 million mt per annum towards its next target production rate of 12 million mt per annum by the end of 2012. Atlas plans to ramp up production to the rate of 6 million mt per annum by Christmas.

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