Australian iron ore development company BC Iron Limited has announced that in the quarter ended on December 31 it produced 970,000 mt of iron ore, down 19 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
During the December quarter, BC Iron shipped 870,000 wet mt of iron ore from its Nullagine JV, decreasing by 38 percent year on year. Shipments and costs of the Nullagine JV for the quarter were impacted by the changeover to a new haulage contractor.
In December 2015, BC Iron Limited announced the temporary suspension of direct shipping ore (DSO) operations at the Nullagine joint venture with Australian miner Fortescue, due to low iron ore prices.
The Nullagine JV’s cash costs for the December quarter were approximately A$54/wmt (FOB) and BC Iron’s all-in cash costs were approximately A$59/wmt (FOB). This is an increase compared to September quarter costs of A$44/wmt (FOB) and A$52/wmt (FOB) respectively, primarily as a result of reduced sales volume due to changeover and ramp-up issues with the new road haulage contractor.