Australian iron ore miner Atlas Iron Limited announced on January 27 that it mined 1.27 million wet metric tons (wmt) of iron ore in the fourth quarter of 2010, increasing 64 percent from 774,653 wmt in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, in the period in question Atlas Iron shipped 1.42 million wmt of iron ore, rising by 353 percent quarter on quarter from 313,719 wmt. The company targets 1.5 million mt of exports for the current quarter.
Spot cargos were sold by Atlas for delivery in January and February 2011 at prices in excess of US$150/wmt . Cash costs fell to approximately $45/t FOB in the period in question. Atlas is targeting $40-43/wmt from January 2011. The company has $188 million cash in hand as of January 27, 2011.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Atlas announced in December an approximate AU$828 million (US$826 million) off-market takeover bid for a 100 percent stake in iron ore mining company Giralia Resources Limited which also operates in Australia's Pilbara region.
Atlas continues with the work on the Turner River Hub, for the expansion of Pilbara production from 6 million mt to 12 million mt per annum by the end of 2012.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, Atlas had agreed to buy Aurox on March 10 in a deal worth AU$149 million at that date. The merger was completed by the end of August.