Northwest Australian iron ore company Atlas Iron has refinanced and reopened its mines, it announced on 2 July.
Reporting to the Australian Securities Commission, Atlas said the last of the three mines it shut down in April had reopened.
Mining operations have restarted at its Mount Webber mine in Pilbara. Processing is planned to recommence mid-July, with shipping starting again shortly after.
In April, Atlas announced it was progressively suspending mining operations, with exports to stop soon afterr.
Iron ore shipments had not been disrupted in the interim three months, a company spokesperson told IHS Maritime. Despite the closures, the company maintained shipping iron ore from its stockpiles.
The company was able to recover from the brink of collapse after negotiating profit-sharing and cost reductions in corporate overheads with key contractors and suppliers. This has brought production costs down to approximately USD50 a tonne, it said.
Three months earlier, the miner’s break-even price was USD60 per tonne iron ore when iron ore plummeted to below USD50 a tonne earlier in 2015.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
