Ore haulage commences at Nullagine

BC Iron has reached a major milestone in the development of its Nullagine iron ore joint venture with Fortescue Metals Group in the Pilbara, with ore haulage commencing in preparation for the first shipment of ore from Fortescue's Herb Elliott Port.

BC Iron's full announcement is below:

Ore Haulage Commences

Project Update - Nullagine Iron Ore Joint Venture

Key Points:

- Haulage of Ore to Fortescue via public roads commences;
- Heritage s. 18 approval for Stage 3 Haul Road has now been received;
- NIOJV has commenced building the stockpile at Christmas Creek;
- First Ore on Ship First Quarter and on track for 1Mt by 30 June 2011.
Australian iron ore development company BC Iron Limited (ASX: BCI) is pleased to provide a further update on progress at the Nullagine Iron Ore Joint Venture Project ("NIOJV") (BC Iron 50%: Fortescue Metals Group 50%) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Product Haulage and First Shipment
In early January, the NIOJV completed haulage of 5,000 t of sheeting material for use as the base of the Project Stockpile at Fortescue Metals Group's ("Fortescue") Ore Processing Facility ("OPF") at Christmas Creek.

The crushing and screening plant at the Outcamp Mine has begun wet commissioning works with mined ore.

Ore haulage commenced via the public Marble Bar - Newman road to the OPF using triple-wagon road trains (77 t capacity).

The private JV Haul road construction continues and once an appropriate base is constructed, haulage will commence via this route.

Haulage on the private haul road will shorten the haulage distance and lessen the chance of delays due to road closures in wet weather.

Once adequate stockpiles are created at Fortescue's Herb Elliott Port, the first shipments of ore will be loaded and exported.

The NIOJV expects to commence exports during the first quarter of 2011 and remains on track to have shipped 1 million tonnes of iron ore by 30 June 2011.

Approvals
The WA Department of Indigenous Affairs has approved the NIOJV's final s.18 application for Stage 3 of the Haul Road - this allows for salvage of artefact sites along the road route if required.

This is the final major State Approval required for completion of the Haul Road on the southern portion of the route.