McAleese Resources, a subsidiary of McAleese Group, has been awarded a four year, $250 million iron ore haulage contract for Atlas Iron’s Mt Webber mine in the Pilbara.
The contract involves the loading and hauling of approximately 3 million tonnes per annum of iron ore from the mine site to Port Hedland and is due to commence mid-2014.
This is the fifth haulage contract in five years McAleese will enter into with Atlas, with the most recent contract awarded in February for Atlas’ Abydos iron ore mine, where it started hauling 2-3mtpa to port from June this year.
The three previous contracts were awarded for Atlas’ Mt Dove, Pardoo and Wodgina iron ore mines, with all five mines in close proximity to each other.
“Mt Webber will be a significant addition to Atlas’ iron ore exports and we look forward to working with Atlas to continue safely and efficiently deliver iron ore to port from their fifth mine commissioned in five years,” McAleese Group chief executive Paul Garety said.
“The flexibility and lower capital requirements of road haulage has delivered an effective transport solution for Atlas and supported their rapid growth.
“With Atlas’ unique complement of smaller scale, close-to-port mines, having the flexibility to dynamically schedule the road transport fleet to meet production, shipping and grade quality targets is paramount,” Mr Garety said.
Mt Webber is located approximately 230 kilometres from Port Hedland’s Utah Point port facility and will see 22 additional McAleese road trains hauling over 500,000 kilometres per month, taking the total haulage requirement for Atlas to approximately 3 million kilometres per month.
McAleese’s $166 million initial public was completed this year, leading to a listing on the ASX.
Its shares are currently trading at $1.42 and Atlas shares are stable, trading at $1.15 per share as of 10am, WST.
