Atlas Iron has delivered the first cape size shipment of iron ore from its Pardoo Project in Western Australia.
The shipment, comprising nearly 150,000 wet metric tones of ore, was loaded at the Herb Elliot Port in Port Hedland for delivery to a key Chinese customer.
Atlas completed two shipments totaling over 120,000 wet metric tones of lower grade material from the site since operations commenced in October 2008.
Atlas managing director, David Flanagan, says the cape size shipment represents an “important milestone” for the company and marks the first delivery to its long-term customers.
The company will ship ore to other customers in coming months, with the next cape size vessel expected to depart in May 2009.
The Pardoo Iron Ore Project is located 75km from Port Hedland in Western Australia. Atlas expects to export one million tones from the operation throughout 2009 and reach 12 Mtpa by 2012.