Ridges iron ore

The Ridges Iron Ore mine is located in the Kimberley region of far north Western Australia, adjacent to the Great Northern Highway, south of Kununurra and approximately 165 kilometres south the of coastal town of Wyndham.

Ridges Iron Ore Deposit is Three Kilometres Long

The iron ore deposit at the Ridges Iron Ore mine, that covers an area three kilometres long and 200 metres wide, is situated along the top of a ridge, where it outcrops the surface while at the same time continues to a depth that varies from three to 15 metres.

Ridges DSO is Exported to China From the Wyndham Port Facilities

By February, 2015, the owners of the Ridges Iron Ore mine, Kimberley Metals Group (KMG), had mined around six million tonnes of high grade direct shipping ore (DSO) from the Ridges open cut mining operation. Shipping ore from the site had commenced in July, 2011, using the company's own export facilities at the Wyndham port. However, the mine was placed on a care and maintenance status in February, 2015, after the reserve of high grade DSO had been depleted. There remains a substantial quantity of a lower grade iron ore resource at the Ridges mine that can be mined at a later date, when the global price for iron ore recovers from its current historically low levels. KMG is already preparing submissions with the aim of obtaining the necessary mining approvals that will allow it to be in a favourable position when exchange rates, market conditions and iron ore prices once again improve.

Iron Ore Price Drop Adversely Affects Ridges Mine Profitability

The Ridges Iron Ore mine suffered substantially with the drop in global iron ore prices near the end of its productive life, when, in July, 2014, it was forced to lay off 40 of its permanent staff to stabilize its profitability. At the time the mine contained an estimated 67 million tonnes of iron ore that KMG were exporting to markets in China at a rate of more than 150,000 tonnes a month.

Matsu High Grade DSO to Compliment Ridges Mine Lower Grade Ore When Mining Resumes

KMG also own the undeveloped Matsu iron ore deposit, 10 kilometres to the south of the Ridges iron ore mining operation. This deposit contains several million tonnes of high grade DSO that is in an ideal location to replace the loss of the Ridges high grade product, when mining resumes in the future. The Matsu project already has the benefit of having had its mining leases and tenements approved in 2014. It is expected that the high grade DSO from the Matsu deposit will make it profitable to once again mine the lower grade deposit remaining at the Ridges mine.