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Mount Gibson Iron (ASX:MGX) looks to Shine Project as iron ore prices jump

Mining
ASX:MGX      MCAP $528.4M
09 October 2020 13:00 (AEST)
Mount Gibson Iron (ASX:MGX) - CEO, Peter Kerr (Left)

Source: Business News

Mount Gibson Iron (MGX) is proceeding with its plans to deliver its first ore sales from its Shine Iron Ore Project in mid-2021.

The project is located 375 kilometres northeast of Perth, in the Mid-West region of Western Australia.

The company is aiming for a targets direct shipping ore (DSO) production rate of 1.5 million wet metric tonnes per annum. This has been based on ore reserves of 2.8 million dry metric tonnes grading at 59.4 per cent iron.

The stage one pit has a mine life of two years, however, this can be extended for a further two years by developing a stage two pit.

Mount Gibson originally purchased the project back in 2014 but put it on hold due to the weak market conditions.

Recently, the West Australian Government managed to hand down $1.2 billion surplus in its State Budget, due to the resurgent iron ore price.

The commodity price has been around US$92.90 per tonne (approx A$139 per tonne) throughout this year — which is a 26 per cent above the Government’s December prediction.

WA benefited from Brazil’s unfortunate impact from COVID-19, with many of the iron ore mines felt the impact of the pandemic.

The State Government is expecting similar returns in 2021-22, however, the iron ore price could go up even further.

CEO Peter Kerr is pleased to be able to capitalise on the positive iron ore market conditions by developing Shine.

“Our detailed review of the project has confirmed Shine as an attractive production opportunity that can be quickly brought online and appropriately staged to suit market conditions,” he said.

“Importantly, it will also provide continuing employment and export revenue for the Mid-West region,” he added.

The company is expecting to commence mining at the project in the first half of the 2021 financial year.

On the market this afternoon, Mount Gibson is down 0.68 per cent and is trading for 73 cents per share at 1:28 pm AEDT.

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