PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Australian iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals has pushed back its development of the Nyidinghu resource, in Western Australia, by three years.
In papers submitted to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, the company stated that it would submit the Nyidinghu project for public environmental review by mid-2015, with construction set to start in the first quarter of 2016 and first ore produced by the fourth quarter of the same year.
Fortescue has previously earmarked 2013 as the start of production for the multibillion-tonne project.
Fortescue has been working to expand its production capacity to 155-million tonnes a year by the end of 2014, with the miner currently undertaking the development of the Kings mine, in the Pilbara.
The Nyidinghu project would further add to this output, and is estimated to have a total resource base of some 2.46-billion tonnnes, including a measured resource of 23-million tons at 59.6% iron, and an indicated resource of 580-million tons at 58.1% iron.
The remaining 1.86-billion tons were classified as inferred.