In a major milestone for the company, IMX Resources (ASX: IXR) is currently loading its first shipment of iron-copper ore from the Cairn Hill mine at Port Adelaide.
The shipment of around 62,500 tonnes of ore is expected to sail early next week for Yingkou, in Liaoning Province of north east China.
The company said the first of four new rotary tippler loading systems is being wet commissioned during the loading of this first vessel, with the new rotary tippler system performing to expectations.
Before the end of the year, 750 of the custom built ore containers will be delivered to Port Adelaide, with the next milestone being the commencement of delivery of the leased wagons from Gemco from the second half of January.
The delivery of the first batch of these wagons will enable an additional three train services per week to be run which will lift the railed tonnage to 35,900 tonnes per week from the current 12,600 tonnes per week by the second half of February, when the full complement of wagons will have been delivered.
At full production Cairn Hill will be shipping ore at the rate of around two vessels per month or approximately 1.7 million tonnes per year.
To speed up the delivery process to China even faster, a second of the rotary tipplers will be delivered in around February 2011, providing the potential for faster loading rates depending on container berth occupancy.