Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/70939
REGIONAL NEWS - AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA grade ore over the coming months will, at current spot prices, generate significant value for the Company and its shareholders over a nine-month period," Simich said. "The overall project is now more than 80% complete and we remain on schedule and on budget, with the overall objective of delivering first underground ore to the SAG mill during Q3 CY2012. That will put us on track to ramp up production to an annual- ized level of 77,000 mt/y of copper and 36,000 oz/y of gold by early CY 2013." BHP Restarts Operations at Temco Following a 90-day suspension of opera- tions at its Temco manganese alloy facility in Tasmania, Australia, to review the eco- nomic viability of continuing operations, BHP Billiton announced that full operations will be restarted immediately. The compa- ny's intention is to have all four furnaces operating by the end of August 2012. "In February the decision was taken to suspend production at Temco due to oper- ating losses," said Bryan Quinn, Australian asset president, BHP Billiton Manganese. "Extensive stakeholder consultation and assessment of all options for Temco has been undertaken over the last three months. Thanks to the extensive investigation by Temco employees of these options, and the flexibility provided by several stakeholders, significant cost reduction opportunities have been identified, primarily in the areas of workforce efficiency, power supply flexi- bility, ore blending and freight optimization. These changes should allow Temco to return to a globally competitive position." "One of the key changes as we restart will be the operational separation of the Temco alloying facility from the Gemco mine, located in the Northern Territory," said Tom Schutte, president, BHP Billiton Manganese. "This separation introduces the ability to blend in other ore sources, which will improve operating performance." BHP said a reduced organizational struc- ture will be implemented for the restart. This will be achieved through natural attrition, an employment freeze and redeployment with- in BHP. Temco, which is part of the man- ganese joint venture between BHP (60%) and Anglo American (40%), produces approximately 65,000 metric tons (mt) of silico manganese and 240,000 mt of high- carbon ferro manganese. BHP Billiton man- ages the operation. Atlas Iron, QR National to Study Pilbara Railway Atlas Iron has entered into a binding Memorandum of Understanding with QR National to progress the feasibility of an independent railway in Western Australia's Pilbara region. The proposed Pilbara Independent Rail (PIR) Project would con- nect iron ore deposits owned by Atlas and other companies in the East and South- East Pilbara to Port Hedland. The study is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, with first haulage ear- marked for as early as 2015. The railway would be designed to be expanded progres- sively in line with shipping allocations at Port Hedland. The line would initially be con- nected to stockpiling facilities which would be developed concurrently at Port Hedland. Under the binding agreement, Atlas and QR National will share the costs of the study and any development proposal would be subject to the approvals and investment hur- dles of the companies' respective boards. "An independent railway offers Atlas a highly attractive means of growing its pro- duction to as much as 46 million metric tons per year," said Atlas Iron Managing Director Ken Brinsden. www.e-mj.com JUNE 2012 • E&MJ; 33