Australian iron ore company BC Iron Limited (BC Iron) has announced that the first iron ore from its 50 percent-owned Nullagine iron ore joint venture with Australian miner Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue), located in Pilbara, Western Australia, will be loaded onto a ship in Port Hedland, Western Australia today, February 24, to be transported to China.
During January, Fortescue commenced wet commissioning of the train load-out and interim reclaim systems at its Christmas Creek operation, using iron ore from the Nullagine JV. This ore was then transported via Fortescue's rail infrastructure to Herb Elliott Port. The first shipments of ore were set to be loaded and exported once adequate stockpiles were built up at Herb Elliott Port.
The ship named M.V. Zosco Dalian is expected to sail over the weekend. The project remains on track to ship one million mt of iron ore by the end of June 2011.