On April 7, Australian iron ore miner Atlas Iron Limited (Atlas) announced that it is imminently ready to start mining at its Western Australia-based Wodgina Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) project in the second quarter of 2010 at an initial production rate of two million metric tons per year.
Stating that approximately 90 percent of all construction and civil works on site are now complete, the company said that, following the start of mining, Atlas plans to ramp up production in the project to 3.6 million metric tons in the last quarter of 2010. Atlas expects to export its first shipment of Wodgina DSO product at the end of the third quarter or at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2010, coincident with the commissioning of the new Utah Point berth facility at Port Hedland.
Meanwhile, Atlas Iron also said that the facilities upgrade of its Pardoo DSO Project is now complete. The company aims to ramp up production from Pardoo from the current annual production rate of 1.2 million metric tons to 2.4 million metric tons in the third quarter of 2010. Atlas expects to export its first shipment of Pardoo DSO product through the Utah Point berth facility in late Q3 or early Q4 of 2010.
Following its next shipment scheduled through Fortescue Metals Group's (FMG) Anderson Point port facility in Port Hedland, Atlas will have met its 18-month target of exporting an aggregate of 1.5 million metric tons of DSO to date and over 1 million metric tons of DSO for the financial year ending June 30, 2010. Atlas will also have shipped over 500,000 metric tons in the period January 1 to June 30, 2010 through FMG's Anderson Point port facility.
In line with the timing of the recent pricing outcomes achieved by the iron ore majors, Atlas expects to achieve a similar revision upwards in the realized price of its iron ore from April 1, 2010, which is likely to be approximately 90 percent above the 2009-10 benchmark prices.