Sinosteel Corporation's plans to mine old iron ore stockpiles at Koolanooka in the Mid West have been put on hold because low commodity prices have made the project uncommercial.
Sinosteel, which last year acquired Midwest Corporation, today said it has completed trial crushing and screening of old stockpiles and waste dumps at Koolanooka, located 190 kilometres south east of Geraldton.
Operations manager Phil Allsopp said the trial has successfully produced saleable product, but is not viable because of present commodity prices.
"While the trial was a success, in the current global economic climate iron ore prices are not at a level that would allow us to profitably process the previously mined material that exists on site," Mr Allsopp said.
The Koolanooka project is located on a historic mine, previously operated by the Geraldton Operations Joint Venture from 1966 to 1972.
Midwest is continuing to progress public environment review approvals, together with other support activities in order to start hard rock mining at Koolanooka and Blue Hills.
The Koolanooka and Blue Hills mining project is expected to run for up to five years, with development scheduled to start in the third quarter this year, subject to government approvals.
"The Koolanooka and Blue Hills project continues to represent a sustainable development opportunity for the region and we are committed to working with stakeholders to ensure we can commence open pit mining on site in the coming months," Mr Allsopp said.
