Anglesey Mining’s (LON:AYM) 33 per cent associate Labrador Iron Mines (TSE:LIM) has revealed that mined grades are exceeding expectations at the recently commissioned James Mine.
LIM began iron ore production earlier this year from its operations in the Schefferville area in western Labrador and north-eastern Quebec. The phased development project will ultimately see LIM bring 20 direct shipping iron ore deposits online in the area. It began transporting the produced direct shipping ore last month.
In today’s interim management statement from LIM, it told investors that production by the end of June a total of 305,000 tonnes of ore had been mined and trucked to the Silver Yards area for processing and transport to Port.
The first ore train loaded with direct railing iron ore left for the Port of Sept-Iles at the end of June. A total of 50,000 tonnes had been railed to Sept-Iles and is stockpiled awaiting shipment.
Following a deal, earlier this week, with Rio Tinto’s majority owned Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), the ore will now be shipped into Asian markets. In total, in the 2011 calendar year, LIM expects that 2.2 million tonnes of ore will be mined from James and it will transport between 750,000 to 1,000,000 tonnes of saleable product to the Port of Sept-Iles.
For the three months ended June 30 LIM reported a US$4.7 million, or $0.09 per share (versus a loss of US$0.9 million, or $0.02 per share in the comparative period of last year). This increased loss is almost entirely down to US$3.5 million start up costs relating to establishing full scale transport of iron ore to the port.
At the end of the period LIM had US$87.9 million in unrestricted and cash equivalents, and US$7.5 million in restricted cash. “LIM is in a strong financial position that will allow it to fund its working capital requirements for 2011 production ramp-up and to fund its exploration and expansion plans,” the company said.