Australian iron ore miner Gindalbie Metals Ltd has announced that on Thursday, March 31 the first iron ore shipment from its Karara project in Western Australia will depart from the port of Geraldton for China. Karara lump ore has been loaded on to the Panamax vessel MV Ju Da, which typically carries 60,000 mt of ore.
Gindalbie said lump ore from Karara made up about one-third of the shipment, with the balance coming from Sinosteel Midwest Corporation's Koolanooka operations under a recently signed eight-month iron ore supply agreement between the two companies, according to which Gindalbie will ship 480,000 mt of iron ore to Sinosteel Midwest.
Gindalbie expects to make one 60,000 mt shipment each month when the direct shipping ore (DSO) phase of operations, which is based on multiple high-grade hematite deposits at Karara, are ramped up to an initial production level of up to two million mt per year next year.
The output from Karara will be sold to Gindalbie's joint venture and off-take partner, China's fourth-largest steel maker Ansteel, under long-term agreements. Ongoing construction of processing infrastructure, rail network and port facilities is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Gindalbie also plans an eight million mt per year magnetite iron ore operation at Karara as part of the project's stage one, bringing the initial production level up to 10 million mt per year.