Fortescue Metals Group has announced first production on its Iron Bridge magnetite project has been delayed until late April.
The project is located 145km south of Port Hedland, WA, and integrates the North Star and Glacier Valley magnetite ore bodies.
The project is one of the few large-scale iron ore growth projects under construction worldwide. It is an unincorporated joint venture between Fortescue’s subsidiary FMG Magnetite and Formosa Steel IB.
The project capital estimate is valued at $US3.9 billion, with Fortescue’s share worth approximately $US3 billion.
This is not the first delay the project has seen, with the project initially being projected to reach the first production stage by March as recently as February 15.
Fortescue said the project has not finished commissioning and is currently testing key pieces of infrastructure.
“Commissioning activities are well progressed on dry processing line A and water commissioning of the wet plant is near completion,” the company said.
“The entire steel concentrate and return water pipelines have been welded and buried, and the canning basin raw water pipeline is complete and undergoing final testing. Water commissioning has commenced on line A at the concentrate-handling facility at Port Hedland.”
As reported by the Australian Financial Review, the construction has involved building a 220km pipeline to supply 20 gigalitres of water per annum from bores in the canning basin and twin concentrate and recycled water pipelines.
The project will produce 22 million tonnes per annum of high grade 67 per cent iron magnetite concentrate.