Territory to drive Darwin port iron ore export surge

Territory Resources expected iron ore exports through the port of Darwin to rise six-fold in a year's time, the miner said yesterday (Monday, May 19).

The projection came after Territory Resources celebrated the export of its 500,000th tonne of high grade iron ore on Sunday.

Territory made its first shipment from its Frances Creek project in the Northern Territory in September 2007. The iron ore shipment was the first from the port of Darwin for more than 30 years.

Managing director Allan Quadrio said the company had loaded its eighth vessel from Darwin with about 71,000 tonnes of ore.

“With our mining and shipping continuing to gather steam we now expect to reach the 1m shipping milestone during the September quarter,” Mr Quadrio said.

Mr Quadrio said the company was making ongoing improvements at site to drive production increases at Frances Creek, including construction of a new wet processing plant to improve wet season operations and increase product consistency.

The mine plan is scheduled to produce 2m tonnes a year (mtpa) by the end of 2008 and 3mtpa by June 2009.

Increases in production will be complemented by increases in port and rail capacity, including working with the Darwin Port Corp (DPC) and the Northern Territory Government to triple present stockpile facilities.

Territory Resources has also committed $25m over the next two years for an aggressive exploration program at Frances Creek to expanded the resource base and extend mine life.