PERTH (miningweekly.com) – China’s Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Company (TMI) will invest some A$30-million to restart operations at the Woodie Woodie manganese mine, in Western Australia.
Owner Consolidated Minerals (ConsMin) suspended operations at the mine at the start of 2016 on the back of declining manganese prices. TMI, which took control of ConsMin in May this year, said this week that it had been buoyed by a sustained increase in the global prices of manganese, and was working to restart operations in October, with first shipments planned for November.
The restart of Woodie Woodie will result in the creation of more than 300 jobs.
ConsMin CEO Oleg Sheyko said that the restart of the Woodie Woodie operation was an important event for the Western Australian mining industry.
“It was a very tough decision to close Woodie Woodie, but at the time it was simply unviable. We are now confident in the manganese market outlook and with an exploration investment can see Woodie Woodie continuing into the future. This is a great outcome for ConsMin, the Pilbara region and Western Australia.”
An initial 115 jobs have already been secured as part of the restart plan, which has included processing of low-grade stockpiles. ConsMin is targeting annualised production of 1.3-million to 1.5-million tonnes.
TMI chairperson and founder Tianjiang Jia said ConsMin was an important part of TMI’s international strategy to integrate its mining and production operations to enhance its position as the world’s biggest electrolytic manganese metal producer.