Mineral Resources revises down Onslow iron volumes on truck shortage
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Mineral Resources (MinRes) has revised down its iron volume guidance for Onslow Iron due to a shortage of road trains for haulage and below forecast daily cycles.
The numbers: A statement released to the ASX on Tuesday evening says that Onslow Iron volume guidance has been revised to 7.8 to 8.0 million tonnes (Mt) (13.8 – 14.1 Mt, 100% basis), from 8.5-8.7 Mt previously.
MinRes added that the reduction relates to lower-than expected availability of contractor road trains for haulage (actual 65 vs. 85-100 target), and below forecast daily cycles (actual 2.7 vs. 4.0 target), despite a steady ramp of haulage volumes and as-expected performance of MinRes jumbo road trains.
The context: The news comes as MinRes prepares to host an investor and analyst tour of Onslow Iron on Wednesday, including a visit to Ken’s Bore and the project’s Port of Ashburton operations. Images shared by the AFR on Tuesday show MinRes’ 330 tonne road trains having to drive at a third of their usual speed as a key road between the mine and shipping port remains under construction.
Earlier this year MinRes flagged that there were issues with the new road which is half owned by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, committing to spend $230 million on repairs and upgrades.
In its Tuesday announcement, MinRes said that Onslow is seeing month-on-month increases, as it expects 1.9 Mt will be shipped during May compared to 1.3 Mt shipped in April, pushing Onslow to a run rate of 23 Mtpa. MinRes anticipates a further shipping increase in June, reaching roughly 2.3-2.6 Mt, a run rate of 28-31 Mtpa.
The company said that the significant month-on-month increase highlights the acceleration of Onslow Iron’s ramp up, with the project remaining on schedule to achieve its nameplate capacity of 35 Mtpa in Q1 2026.
Last week the mining group outlined an increase in reserves at the Western Australian iron ore project, saying it had mineral resources of 744 million tonnes at Onslow as of 31 March, an 89% increase since the previous update in September 2023.
The sources: ASX, AFR, Capital Brief
