Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian state government has granted iron-ore miner BC Iron royalty assistance at its Nullagine joint venture.
The assistance would be in the form of a deferral of 50% of the iron-ore royalties paid between December 2014 and September 2015, subject to BC Iron’s free-on-board price being less than A$90/t in the quarter.
The deferred royalties would be repayable in seven equal quarterly instalments, with the first repayment due at the end of March 2016, and the last due by the end of September 2017.
BC Iron told shareholder that this would effectively defer between A$8-million and A$12-million in royalties by between one and two years.
“Smaller iron-ore producers make up an important part of the industry that has, and will continue to, generate revenue and jobs for Western Australia,” said BC Iron MD Morgan Ball.
“We commend the state government for providing financial assistance and we seek to implement further cost reduction measures at the Nullagine project during 2015.”
The state government in December last year announced the introduction of a 50% rebate on all eligible haematite iron-ore royalties, for a period of up to 12 months, subject to the iron-ore price remaining below A$90/t.