PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Bauxite miner Metro Mining has produced 743 000 t of bauxite during the three months to December, down from the 859 000 t produced in the previous quarter, after ex Tropical Cyclone Owen resulted in the suspension of the Bauxite Hills mine operations for a period of six days in mid-December.
Bauxite tonnes shipped during the quarter reached 816 000 t, which was in line with the 822 000 t shipped during the previous quarter, with the Bauxite Hills operation achieving an annualised run-rate of around 2.5-million tonnes a year for the second consecutive quarter.
Metro told shareholders that based on strong operating performance and strong customer demand, the company has implemented a series of low-cost operational improvements and upgrade initiatives to expand production in 2019 from 3-million tonnes a year to 3.5-million tonnes a year.
Meanwhile, a definitive feasibility study for the Stage 2 expansion of the Bauxite Hills mine, to six-million tonnes a year, was on track for completion by the second quarter of 2019, with the expansion expected to take effect by 2021.