London-listed Bellzone
Mining has announced that it has commenced
iron ore production at the Forécariah joint venture project in the Republic of
Guinea,
West Africa, on March 22.
The Forécariah
iron ore project is expected to produce over 30,000 mt of run-of-mine ore for processing through its installed crushing and screening plants. Once the
mining permit is granted by the government of
Guinea, the
iron ore will be transported to and stockpiled at port for barge loading scheduled for the end of April.
According to Bellzone's statement, production capacity will be ramped up to 4 million mt per year over a six-month period, with the first shipment scheduled for early June this year. The annual capacity is expected to reach 10 million mt by 2014.
Forécariah
iron ore project is a fully funded 50-50 joint venture between Bellzone and the Chinese company China International Fund Limited.