Australia-based magnetite iron ore pellet producer Grange Resources has announced that it will significantly reduce expenditure on its 70 percent-owned Southdown magnetite project in Western Australia.
Grange Resources stated that the cut in expenditures was required given uncertain market conditions, high development costs and difficult financial markets, while it is still looking for an equity partner for a strategic share of its interest in the project.
Grange is expecting that its share of total project expenditure for 2013 will be in the range of $2.5 million. Cost reductions will lead to a smaller team of staff over the next five months. The personnel whose positions are to be made redundant under this restructuring will leave the project by the end of December 2012.
Southdown is a joint venture which is 70 percent owned by Grange and 30 percent by Japan's Sojitz Resources & Technology Pty Ltd (SRT). SRT is jointly owned by Sojitz Corporation, a Japanese-based global trading company, and by Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel.