The Karara iron ore joint venture in Western Australia recently shipped its first delivery of magnetite concentrate, and
remains on track to reach full production by the end of April 2013. (Photo courtesy Gindalbie Metals)

Commissioning of the Karara magnetite concentrator was ongoing during January, with a goal of achieving full nameplate pro-duction capability of 8 million mt/y by the end of April 2013.

Karara shipped its first hematite direct shipping ore in March 2011 and as of year-end 2012 had shipped more than 1.3 million mt. The ramp-up performance of its direct shipping ore business demonstrated the effi-ciency of the entire Karara logistics chain, which continues to perform above expecta-tions, the Gindalbie Metals statement said.

As of mid-January, three trains per day were running between Karara and the Karara export terminal, and a fourth train was due to be added as required by the ramp-up schedule.

Karara is a surface mining operation located 200 km east of Geraldton. The project is based on the integrated devel-opment of a substantial magnetite con-centrate operation that has the potential to produce more than 30 million mt/y for 35 years and a smaller-scale hematite opera-tion based on a number of high-grade hematite deposits.

A total of A$2.55 billion had been spent on Karara construction, including rail and port infrastructure, through mid-January, and the company expected to complete the project broadly in line with its budget.