GLOBAL NEWS •
AUSTRALIA : MINES ON ICE
While iron ore prices have risen slightly after last year ’ s mammoth drop in August to below USD100 ( USD138 ) per tonne , the price rise has not been enough to save two iron ore mines in Australia from suspending operations .
After falling to USD92 per tonne during the third week of September , the price for 62 % iron ore has risen above USD110 per tonne to start October .
This is still well below prices reached in mid-July 2021 , when they topped USD200 per tonne .
The Ridges iron ore mine in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia was placed in care and maintenance in September , while Mount Gibson Iron has enacted a staged suspension of its Shine iron ore project in Western Australia ’ s mid-west .
Indus Mining said the Ridges mine , operated by the company as part of a joint venture between Habrok Mining and Ridges Iron Ore , has been deemed economically unviable due to both the fall in prices along with continued high shipping costs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic .
Ridges was restarted in mid-2020 after previously being placed into care and maintenance twice in five years .
In a statement , Mount Gibson said : “ Given recent adverse movements in iron ore prices , product discounting and shipping freight rates , the company will implement a staged suspension of operations at the Shine mine site .”
Mount Gibson said it was scaling back Shine to reduce expenditure and preserve the value of the deposit , as well as to provide time to assess the outlook for the market .
Mount Gibson commenced development on its Shine project in late 2020 before bringing the operation into production this year . It comes after similarly lowly prices claimed Venture Minerals in mid-September , forcing the company to suspend operations at its Riley mine in Tasmania .
A week later , GWR Group was also forced to suspend operations at its C4 mine in Wiluna , Western Australia , as a result of the low prices .
AUSTRALIA : BUILT WITH BIGGER BLOCKS
The State of Western Australia is one of the world ’ s key producers of iron ore – a critical raw material in steelmaking . But such resources are in remote locations , even by Australia ’ s vast standards . BHP ’ s USD3.6-billion South Flank project , located in the Pilbara region , uses digital connectivity and autonomous-ready fleets , and is one of the most advanced of its kind in Australia .
To build this facility , over 1 000 components needed to be transported to site safely , on schedule and in the right sequence .
These items – with a cumulative weight in excess of 29.500t - needed to be transported 340km across the state ’ s barren interior . This had to be done within a demanding timeframe to keep the construction schedule on track .
The cargo would be taken from the ship ’ s hook at Port Hedland and across a route largely consisting of public highways . Transporting these modules in the largest possible pieces would reduce the time spent integrating them on site - but the maximum transport size is always limited by the width and condition of the route .
www . africanmining . co . za African Mining • January 2022 • 7