- Mount Gibson Iron (MGX) has announced the completion of its Koolan Island crushing plant upgrade, with commissioning now underway
- Progression of the Koolan Island waste stripping program, with access to increasing volumes of high grade ore, is scheduled through the March and June 2022 quarters as planned
- The Koolan Island waste to ore stripping ratio averaged around 15:1 in the FY22 December half year and is expected to fall significantly to around 6:1 in the FY22 June half year as ore production builds
- Meanwhile, transition of the Mid-West Shine operation to care and maintenance, announced in early October, has been completed, pending a restart assessment in 2022
- Mount Gibson Iron shares are in the grey trading at 42 cents at 1:44 pm AEDT
Mount Gibson Iron (MGX) has announced the completion of its Koolan Island crushing plant upgrade, with commissioning now underway.
Mount Gibson Iron chief executive officer, Peter Kerr, says the progress allows the company to achieve a substantially improved sales and cost performance for next year.
“Most significantly, the major waste stripping program at Koolan Island has progressed to the point where the substantial investment we’ve been making will lead to increased sales of high-grade ore in the first half of next year and establish the mine to create significant cashflows over the following five years,” he said.
The Koolan Island crusher upgrade was completed in two stages, the first reconfigured the lump and fines stacker circuits whilst the second stage involved the installation of a new run-of-mine ore retaining wall, feed bin, jaw and cone crushers and upgraded screening.
In parallel with the crusher upgrade, the company has continued to progress the major waste stripping program within the main pit with more than 9 million tonnes of ore and waste mined in the FY22 December half-year.
The Koolan waste to ore stripping ratio averaged around 15 tonnes for every tonne of ore extracted and is expected to fall significantly to around 6:1 in the FY22 June half-year.
From the end of FY22, the company says the stripping ratio will continue to progressively decline and is expected to average 1.5:1 over the following five-year period.
Mount Gibson says for the FY22 December half-year period, shipments will total around 0.4 million wet metric tonnes (Mwmt) and will rise during the March and June 2022 quarters with the sales target being 1.7 Mwmt, including around 1.3 Mwmt in the FY22 June half year.
The ground support works on the upper footwall in the western end of the main pit are progressing well but have taken longer than originally anticipated.
Transition of the Mid-West Shine operation to care and maintenance, announced in early October, has been completed, pending a restart assessment in 2022.
Given the suspension of the Shine operation, it is likely that the book carrying value of the business unit will be impaired by around $40 to $45 million, before tax, at December 31.
The company says over 98 per cent of all site-based employees and contractors have received either one or both of their COVID-19 vaccinations, enabling them to avoid disruptions.
Mount Gibson Iron shares are in the grey trading at 42 cents at 1:44 pm AEDT.