Atlantic’s Windimurra mine shut indefinitely

OREANDA-NEWS. Australian mining firm Atlantic has been put into administration after refinancing talks to revive the firm's Windimurra iron ore and vanadium mine in Western Australia (WA) showed no chance of restructuring.

There has been no production at the mine since February 2014 after a fire and now the mine looks set to be put into care and maintenance. Atlantic had forecast in 2013 that Windimurra would produce 1mn t/yr of iron ore fines at 55pc Fe and had 14pc titanium dioxide.

The removal of Windimurra is unlikely to have market impact given that there have been no supplies for 12 months, but it adds to the growing list of Australian iron ore mines that have closed amid falling iron ore prices during the past 18 months.

Australian iron ore mining firm Kimberley Metals (KMG) earlier this week put its 1.5mn-2mn t/yr Ridges in northern WA on care and maintenance.

Other mines that have been closed include Arrium's 4mn t/yr Southern Iron ore operations in South Australia, Western Desert Resources' 3mn t/yr Roper's Bar mine in the Northern Territory (NT), Hong Kong trading firm Noble's 2mn-3mn t/yr Frances Creek mine in NT, Termite Resources' 1.7mn t/yr Cairn Hill mine in South Australia and Mineral Resources' 4mn t/yr Phil's Creek, 1mn t/yr Spinifex Ridge and 500,000 t/yr Poondano mines in the Pilbara region of WA.

Pluton Resources' 1mn t/yr Cockatoo Island mine offshore WA remains under threat after administrators were called in to run the company in September. The mine shipped two cargoes to China at the end of last year. But its long-term future is uncertain, as is that of Mount Gibson's 4mn t/yr Koolan Island mine that was closed following a wall collapse in September and will only reopen if it is viable, which is unlikely at current iron ore prices.

Iron ore prices have halved to as low as \$60.30/t cfr China for 62pc Fe fines and \$51.50/t cfr China for 58pc Fe fines during the past year, leaving most small and medium Australian producers operating at a loss and resulting in the closure of more than 10mn t/yr of capacity in the country.