Mine Details
Extension hill
http://www.mtgibsoniron.com.au/
iron-oreCamp, FiFo
Phone:
Address:
Level 1, 2 Kings Park Road (Head Office), Perth, WA, 6005
State: Level 1, 2 Kings Park Road (Head Office), Perth, WA, 6005
Email:
The owner of the Extension Hill iron ore mine in the Mid West region of Western Australia, Mt Gibson Iron Limited, is foreign owned but Australian based. The company employs around 300 people overall and has its headquarters in Perth. The two major shareholders that make up the Mt Gibson company are; Shougang Concord International Enterprises Co, a subsidiary of the giant Chinese steel manufacturer Shougang and Apac Resouces Limited, another Hong Kong listed company.
The Owners of Extension Hill Took a Battering When Iron Ore Prices Fell During 2012
The company is primarily a producer of hematite ore but is currently investigating moves into coking coal, a product it sees a greater chance of growth in going forward. Mt Morgan presently own two other iron ore projects in Western Australia besides that of the Extension Hill mine. These are:
Tallering Peak ñ The closure of Tallering Peak is to be brought forward as it suffers from the downward spiral of iron ore prices
Koolan Island ñ A mine off the coast in the Kimberley that suffered a workforce cut of up to 270 workers in late 2012 for the same reason
Extension Hill Survives
During all this turmoil, the Extension Hill open cut mine, 260 kilometres south east of Geraldton, has survived. In fact it has gone one better with the company acquiring a 50 square kilometre tenement off Royal Resources, just 60 kilometres north of the Extension Hill mine.
Production Began at Extension Hill as Late as 2011
Production began at the Extension Hill mine in December 2011 with the ore shipped out from Geraldton to its mainly Chinese customers. The mine has a scheduled lifetime of five years with a production level of three million tonnes of ore a year. It is regarded as a high margin low cost producer of quality hematite - direct shipping ore.
The ore extracted from the Extension Hill mine is crushed, screened and stockpiled on site, before it is loaded onto trucks for transportation 85 kilometres to Perenjori. From here it is loaded onto rail wagons for transportation by rail the 239 kilometres to the Geraldton port. The ore is stored at the port in a 250,000 tonne storage shed awaiting loading onto panamax sized ore carriers that take it to its destination overseas.
Mt Gibson Iron Ore is one of Australia's Largest Hematite Exporting Companies
The Mt Gibson company, is one of Australia's largest hematite exporting companies, although it generally keeps a low profile. It has already experienced a near death experience in its comparably short life on the Australian mining scene. This was caused by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007/08 that created economic uncertainty in the world.
A report tabled in 2010 showed the Extension Hill project has probable reserves of 12.8 million tonnes and resources of 19.5 million tonnes. The company intends to grow its Mid West mining operations and will start field activities in the first six months of 2013. It considers the area is good for gold and other base metal prospecting.rn
