Australian iron ore miner Atlas Iron Limited has announced that it has decided to suspend iron ore processing at its Mt Dove site and reduce its mining rate at its Mt Webber mine to seven million mt per year with effect from late July.
In June 2017, the company announced a decision to increase production at its Mt Webber mine from seven million mt to nine million mt per year, with the incremental production to be processed at its recommissioned Mt Dove site. However, according to the company, tons processed at Mt Dove have a higher cash cost than tons processed at Mt Webber due to higher haulage and rehandling costs.
Atlas Iron stated that it is constantly monitoring market conditions and will seek to ramp up iron ore production with a short lead-time if economics permit.