Carina

The Carina iron ore mine is located 100 Kilometres north east of Southern Cross and 60 kilometres from Koolyanobbing, within the Shire of Yilgarn, in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.

Carina Mine Produces Hematite DSO

The Carina project mines hematite direct shipping ore, from an open pit in the Finnerty Range's, Yendilberin Hills, which is then exported to Asian steel mills.

The Carina iron ore mine is operated by Polaris Metals, a fully owned subsidiary of Perth based mining company, Mineral Resources Limited (MRL). The hematite deposit being mined at the Carina project site is just one of several others located within the Yilgarn tenement holding held by Polaris Metals. Polaris Metals are proceeding to develop the other deposits as small satellite open pit mining operations known as; Carina Extended, Hunt Range and Chameleon along with three larger ore bodies located at Bungalbin East, J4 and J5.

Carina Iron ore Mine Continues to Expand its Operations

The deposits at Carina Extended and J4 have both had all their mining and environmental applications approved to allow mining at their respective sites to proceed to the production stage in 2015. In July, 2014, Mineral Resources announced the arrival of six new locomotive engines and 382 wagons, specifically designed to transport iron ore, to carry the loads from the Polaris 10 million tonnes a year processing plant, situated on the Trans-Australian Railway line to the port at Kwinana from where it is exported to Asia by ship. The ore is trucked by road haulage the 50 kilometres from the Carina mine site to the Polaris processing plant, at the railway siding.

The first ore mined from the Carina J4 deposit was accepted at the Yilgarn central mineral processing infrastructure hub crushing plant following the completion of the J4 haulage road at the end of 2015.

Carina ore to be Exported out of the Port at Esperance

At the end of January, 2016, Mineral Resources, trialled train haulage movement to the closer port at Esperance, in preference to the port at Kwinana, to export its Carina Yilgarn iron ore product from Australia. The company believes it can make a savings of $10 for each tonne of ore, by shipping its product out of the Esperance port. To this end it has entered into discussions with the Esperance port management, Southern Ports Authority, grain exporter CBH and Brookfield Rail, in order to progressively transfer its ore exporting from the Kwinana port.

Carina Mine Grows Production Rate

Mineral Resources, increased exports from its Carina operations during the December quarter of 2015, when it shipped a total of 1.5 million tonnes, against it shipping 1.2 million tonnes during the September, 2015, quarter.

Mineral Resources Limited has also started the development of 150 tonne trays to be tested on its mining trucks in the field. The trays will undergo operational and technical evaluation throughout the 2016 financial year. If the trays prove to be successful they will replace all the company's current mining truck trays going forward. The Carina iron ore mining operation has an estimated life of mine of between 15 and 20 years.