PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals has officially opened its Firetail mine, which forms part of the Solomon hub, in the Pilbara.
The Firetail mine was the company’s third mine to open over the last five years and formed part of a $3.2-billion development, taking the company’s ultimate production capacity to 155-million tons a year, by the end of this calendar year.
“Firetail will produce 20-million tons a year, while the second stage of the development, the Kings mine, will produce another 40-million tons a year,” said Fortescue CEO Nev Power.
“This represents a valuable source of new production from long-life, low-cost mining operations that allow us to blend with Chichester ores to create an enhanced product for our customers – the new Fortescue blend.”
Fortescue started commissioning the Firetail ore processing facility last month and production was expected to ramp up quickly, increasing the company’s capacity to 115-million tons a year.
Mining at the Firetail operation had been under way since last year and the first train carrying ore from the operation was delivered to the Hamersley line in December last year.
At the end of last year, Fortescue restarted work on the Kings deposit, after deferring the development in September last year in response to volatile market conditions.