www.angleseymining.co.uk
26% of Labrador Iron Mines in Canada
100% of Parys Mountain in Wales
Anglesey holds 26% of Toronto-listed Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Limited (TSX:LIM) which is now producing iron ore from its James deposit, one of LIM’s twenty direct shipping iron ore deposits in western Labrador and north-eastern Quebec. Development of other deposits is underway and production of the high grade hematite iron ore is targeted to grow from 2Mt in 2012 to 5Mt in 2015.
LIM’s properties are part of the Schefferville area iron ore district in the Labrador Trough where the Iron Ore Company of Canada mined from 1954 to 1982. See the Labrador Iron Mines website for further details.
Anglesey is also carrying out development and exploration work at its 100% owned Parys Mountain zinc-copper-lead deposit in North Wales, UK where there is estimated to be a total historical resource in excess of 7 million tonnes at over 9% combined copper, lead and zinc.
Anglesey owns 17.8m LIM shares (26%) and has 158m of its own shares in issue.
Anglesey Mining: LIM mined and trucked 1.2 mln tonnes of iron ore in 2011
Anglesey Mining (LON:AYM) this afternoon relayed the year end results of its 33 per cent owned associate Labrador Iron Mines (TSE:LIM).
The Canadian mining firm revealed that 1.2 million tonnes of iron ore was mined and trucked to the port ahead of processing and shipping, during the period ending December 31 2011.
In June LIM began producing iron ore from the James mine, which forms part of the Schefferville group of mines in northern Canada. The operation is currently considered to be in a pre-production stage comprising start-up and testing operations, it said.
In total, 440,000 tonnes of direct railing ore was produced, at an average grade of 64.9 per cent iron, during the period. Of that, 340,000 tonnes were railed directly to the port of Sept-Iles without further processing.
Around 572,000 tonnes of ore was fed to the Silver Yards plant. This yielded around 232,000 tonnes of lump and sinter fine products.
LIM said that the grade of ore mined in 2011 was higher than the average resource grade.
Furthermore it revealed that nearly 412,000 tonnes were sold, via its agreement with Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), into Asian markets.
The iron was sold in three separate shipments – with gross sales prices of US$176, US$121 and US$137 respectively. Each of the shipments was sold in the spot market. And LIM received the gross price less IOC’s charges for handling, loading, shipping and sales costs.
LIM said it continues to review options for marketing iron ore during 2012 and in subsequent years.
It says that it is evaluating the optimum route to achieve these sales, while still maintaining maximum flexibility and independence.
“Marketing discussions are continuing with potential customers, both in Europe and in Asia. The company is also continuing discussions with a number of internationally recognized commodity traders with specialist knowledge of the iron and steel industry,” LIM said
“The company has not yet concluded any agreements for the sale of any iron ore beyond 2011, but expects to conclude shipping and sale arrangements prior to the start-up of operations (following the winter break) in the spring.”
It also told investors that detailed planning is now underway for the coming year. It expects to mine between 2.5 and 3 million tonnes of iron ore, producing around 2 million tonnes of saleable product – including a 187,000 tonne stockpile that’s already at the port.
Meanwhile it says the Phase 3 expansion of the processing plant is currently under way. Civil construction work is on schedule, with steel erection and commissioning expected by June.
It also continues work on Stage 2 of the Houston project, in which it aims to prepare the deposits for production next year.
Anglesey Mining shares gained 1p, or 3.5 per cent, to trade at 29.5p on the London Stock Exchange this afternoon.
