Australian iron ore development company BC Iron Limited has announced that it has produced 809,753 mt of iron ore in the March quarter, up 19 percent quarter on quarter from its Nullagine joint venture in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, equally owned by BC Iron and Australian miner Fortescue. In the given quarter, the shipments made from the mine increased 51 percent to a record 1.03 million mt compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
BC Iron stated the crushing and screening plant is operating at sustained rates above the initial capacity of 3 million mt per year. The first of two scheduled upgrades started during April after which crushing and screening will achieve a rate of 5 million mt per year. The second upgrade will occur early in the next financial year and result in a capacity increase to approximately 5.5 million mt per year.