MinRes to Boost Koolyanobbing Iron Ore Output

In a quarterly report released Tuesday (April 30), Mineral Resources (MinRes) (ASX:MIN,OTC Pink:MALRY) said that it has developed plans to boost production rates at its Koolyanobbing iron ore operation in Western Australia’s Yilgarn region.

The asset, acquired from Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF) by MinRes in August 2018, almost immediately began production ramp up upon joining MinRes’ roster; it reached its nameplate capacity of 6 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) after less than three months.

MinRes saw its first train loaded with iron ore from the operation leave for the Port of Esperance in November 2018, with the company’s first shipment set for four weeks later.

According to the company, iron ore shipments grew 41 percent from the previous quarter to 3.3 million tonnes, driven by Koolyanobbing’s ramp up.

Since then, MinRes has developed plans to increase production and shipping rates at the asset to 8 Mtpa by Q1 of the 2020 financial year; the company is currently in Q4 of its 2019 financial year.

Production at Koolyanobbing reached 1.3 million wet metric tonnes (wmt) this past quarter, up from the previous quarter’s rate of 560,000 wmt. MinRes stated that crushing operations performed well based on ore supply from the mine, and elaborated on the additional progress made at the project.

“Mining continued in the W7, W10 open pits at Windarling with Stage 1 almost completed. The F pits at Koolyanobbing were brought into full production producing higher grade and lower phosphate material and have performed well against the resource model,” a statement from MinRes reads.

“The Deception facilities area is complete and in full production with first ore hauled in late March to the Koolyanobbing run-of-mine,” it continues.

MinRes’ share price was down 0.7 percent on the ASX on Tuesday, ending the day of trading at AU$15.59. As of 1:04 p.m. EDT on Monday (April 29), iron ore was trading at US$93.17 per tonne.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.