Iron ore miner Atlas Iron's direct shipping ore (DSO) stocks have doubled to more than 186 million tonnes paving the way for the planned increases in production and sales revenue over the next three years.
Iron ore miner Atlas Iron's direct shipping ore (DSO) stocks have doubled to more than 186 million tonnes paving the way for the planned increases in production and sales revenue over the next three years.
The company said its revised DSO resource estimate represents an increase of 97 per cent from the figures published in July 2009 and a rise of 230 per cent from this time last year.
Atlas managing director, David Flanagan this is an excellent result for a company of Atlas' size during one of the worst economic downturns in the past 50 years.
"Atlas has worked extremely hard in the field to grow our resource base during 2009, with 100,000m drilled for the year," he said in a statement.
"That's been reflected in this result, with a 49% increase in resources on Atlas' projects plus the additional 46 million tonnes coming from the recent merger with Warwick Resources.
"This resource base sets up the Company to achieve its key goals of growing exports to an annual rate of 6 million tonnes this year, rising to 12 million tonnes in 2012."
Atlas Iron is currently exporting from its wholly-owned Pardoo Iron Ore project with additional export tonnages from its Abydos and Wodgina DSO projects.
Atlas shares closed one cent lower to $2.14.
Full announcement below:
ATLAS DOUBLES DSO RESOURCE INVENTORY TO 187Mt
Atlas Iron Limited [ASX Code: AGO] is pleased to announce that its resource inventory of Direct
Shipping Ore has doubled to 186.6 million tonnes at 56.6% Fe, paving the way for the planned
increases in production and sales revenue over the next three years.
HIGHLIGHTS
- 97% INCREASE IN DSO RESOURCES IN LAST 6 MONTHS
- 230% INCREASE IN DSO RESOURCES IN LAST 12 MONTHS
- SIGNIFICANT INFERRED RESOURCES CONVERTED TO MEASURED AND INDICATED
- EXPLORATION TARGET OF 430 TO 750Mt AT 57 TO 60% Fe
The revised DSO resource estimate represents an increase of 97% from the figures published in July 2009 and a rise of 230% from this time last year.
"Atlas has worked extremely hard in the field to grow our resource base during 2009, with 100,000m drilled for the year. That's been reflected in this result, with a 49% increase in resources on Atlas' projects plus the additional 46 million tonnes coming from the recent merger with Warwick Resources" commented David Flanagan, Atlas' Managing Director.
"This is an excellent result for a company of Atlas' size during one of the worst economic downturns in the past 50 years."
"This resource base sets up the Company to achieve its key goals of growing exports to an annual rate of 6 million tonnes this year, rising to 12 million tonnes in 2012."
During the year, Atlas has delivered major increases to the resource inventory as a result of a
combination of exploration success at Wodgina, Mt Webber, and Mt Dove; extensional drilling at
Wodgina and Abydos; and the merger with Warwick Resources, which added a 45.5Mt of inferred
resources in the Newman area.
In late 2009, infill drilling at Wodgina has enabled the company to convert almost 25Mt of the inferred resource to measured and indicated category.
Based on work completed to date by Atlas and Warwick Resources, the Company now has a revised exploration target range for all its projects of 430 to 750 million tonnes at between 57 and 60% Fe.
This target range is inclusive of the current resource figure quoted in table 1 above.
Background Atlas Iron Limited
Atlas Iron Limited is mining and exporting from its 100%-owned Pardoo Iron Ore project, located
75km by road from Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. In 2009 Atlas shipped its target of 1 million tonnes during its first 12 months of operations. When combined with additional export tonnages from its Abydos and Wodgina DSO Projects, the Company is targeting total exports at an annualised rate of 6 million tonnes in 2010, growing to 12 million tonnes in 2012.