BUSINESS REVIEW AUSTRALIA
industry , which is set up to take a much coarser material — we ’ ve been blazing a trail with that .”
The Company ’ s trail blazing and efficient operations have been paying off so far , with the Company achieving several successive record production quarters . A record production quarter of 545kt in December 2013 was surpassed by a new record of 553kt in the March 2014 quarter , and indications are that the June 2014 quarter will deliver at an even higher rate .
Sydvaranger Gruve AS Sydvaranger consists of four magnetite iron deposits with JORC compliant reserves and resources ( Kjellmannsåsen , Fisketind Øst , Bjørnevatn and Tverrdalen ). Sydvaranger is located adjacent to the towns of Bjørnevatn and Kirkenes in Norway , approximately 1,500km northeast of the capital , Oslo . The mine at Bjørnevatn is connected via a rail line to a concentrator facility and ice-free port at Kirkenes located 8km to the north , providing direct access to the Barents Sea . Sydvaranger is the owner and sole user of the railway , and has secure access to the port through long-term contracts with Tschudi Bulk Terminals AS . “ The existing infrastructure and world-class ore body is what made this such an attractive project ,” adds Beckmand .
The team at Sydvaranger Gruve are determined to continually improve performance in all aspects of their business . Their future success will be underpinned by focusing on the following key strategic drivers : safety , health and environment , productivity , reliability , competence and culture and sustainability . “ The key is sustainability . We know we ’ re a high-cost producer , but we ’ re also a high-quality producer . And that makes us unique and highly desirable ,” says Beckmand .
Asset location continues to be a strong advantage for Northern Iron . “ We ’ re in Norway , which is about six sailing days from Europe ; our main point of marketing . We have an advantageous location . Norway itself is preferable compared to a lot of other start-up iron ore companies based in Africa for example ,” says Beckmand . “ We ’ ve been able to access more of
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