Venture shuts iron ore mine

Venture Minerals has suspended operations at its iron ore mine in Tasmania after just one shipment, with the company squeezed by higher costs and falling prices.

The Perth-based company said it was undertaking a full review of operations at the Riley mine to identify cost efficiency measures.

Its share price crashed 28 per cent today to 5.5 cents.

The company’s problems include the halving of the benchmark iron ore price, which it said had fallen to $US106 per tonne.

In addition, the discount applied to Riley’s 57 per cent Fe grade ore had blown out from 10 per cent used in its 2019 feasibility study to the current market rate of 30 per cent.

It has also been adversely affected by a tripling of shipping rates between Tasmania and China, from US$18 per tonne since the feasibility study to around US$54 per tonne.

Venture said its review of operations at the Riley mine would seek to identify cost efficiency measures to offset some of the external market volatility beyond the company’s control.

Today’s announcement coincided with the first shipment, comprising 45,632 tonnes of iron ore, heading for China.

Venture will receive approximately A$5.1 million in the next fortnight under its offtake agreement.

The company has signalled its future lies with the adjacent Mount Lindsay tin project.

“We are looking forward to ramping up our operations at Mount Lindsay with tin at record prices, so that we can continue to provide long term employment in Tasmania’s Northwest; make significant contributions to Tasmania’s economy; and develop the Mount Lindsay ESG compliant EV Metal/Critical Minerals Tin-Tungsten mine,” it said.

“The mine will supply environmentally sustainable EV Metals/Critical Minerals in a globally recognised Tier One ESG hub, which provides superior environmental outcomes to the large majority of the world’s tin that is sourced from high-risk ESG jurisdictions.”