JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Construction is now officially under way on the Karara iron-ore project, in Western Australia, Gindalbie Metals, which is developing the mine in a joint-venture (JV) with China’s Ansteel, said on Monday.
Initial site clearing activities and preliminary earthworks started at Karara in early November, following the receipt of final Commonwealth environmental approval at the end of October and State Government environmental approval in September.
Gindalbie said that the project would generate some 1 500 construction jobs and 600 direct and indirect long-term jobs.
The Karara mine would initially produce ten-million tons a year of iron products starting in 2011, comprising eight-million tons a year of high-grade magnetite concentrate, a value-added product, and two-million tons a year of direct shipping ore.
The mine has the potential to produce more than 30-million tons a year over a 30-year life.
Iron products would initially be exported through Geraldton Port, with Karara also able to commit foundation tonnages to underpin the development of the new multi-billion dollar Oakajee Port.
Gindalbie MD Garret Dixon said that the start of construction marked a “major milestone” for Gindalbie – the beginning of a new period of growth and development for the Mid West region and a strong vindication of the partnership established with Ansteel.
“In commemorating this historic milestone, I would like to acknowledge the vital support that has been provided to us over many years by Ansteel, which has brought key elements to the project development including a long-term off-take agreement, equity and project funding,” Dixon said.
Karara was one of the first projects in Australia to involve an integrated development with an offshore downstream processing facility in the form of a JV pellet plant, which would be constructed near the site of Ansteel’s new steel-making facility at BaYuQuan, in China.
Dixon noted that the JV had not wasted any time in getting on the ground to start development, with the site already teeming with people, trucks, diggers and other equipment.
Karara was the first major mine development in the Mid West and also one of only a handful of new magnetite projects to be developed in Australia. These magnetite projects heralded a new era of downstream processing for the industry in the emerging Mid West iron-ore province.