London-listed Bellzone Mining has provided an update on the anticipated production and shipment volumes from the Forécariah joint venture in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.
Bellzone expects to produce and export 800,000 mt to 1 million mt of iron ore in 2013, down from 3-4 million mt anticipated at the beginning of the project. The decrease in the export target is caused by the limited amount of direct shipping ore compared to expectations.
Bellzone stated that it is successfully using geared ships to export iron ore from Guinea and generating cash flows, while proceeding with the re-engineering process in accordance with the schedule announced in January. As SteelOrbis previously reported, Bellzone announced in January that transshipments had not performed as well as expected and the re-engineering process would take at least six months.
Reuters reported that Bellzone shares dropped more than 40 percent following the decline in the company's production target.