PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore miner Roy Hill has shipped its first shipment of low phosphorus iron-ore from its namesake mine in the Pilbara.

The $10-billion Roy Hill mine had initially missed its September 30 ship-loading target, and again at the start of December, owing to “progressive commissioning and operational and safety constraints”.

Roy Hill and Hancock Prospecting chairperson Gina Rinehart said on Thursday that with the first shipment under way, the project would hold the record as one of the fastest construction start-ups of any major greenfield resource project in Australia.

“This is a considerable achievement, and although the media refer to a contractors date for shipment, it remains that the shipment still occurred ahead of what the partners' schedule had planned in the detailed bankable feasibility study.”

Rinehart said that the project had already delivered significant benefits to Western Australia and Australia as a whole, and following the first shipment, would continue to do so for several years to come.

The Roy Hill project comprised an openpit mine, a 55-million-tonne-a-year wet processing plant, 344 km of rail line and a two-berth iron-ore port facility at Port Hedland.

With the departure of the first shipment, Roy Hill would now focus on a rapid ramp-up to nameplate capacity.

Meanwhile, Hancock Prospecting executive director Tad Watroba lashed out at media and industry analysts for "overstating" the impact that the Roy Hill mine would have on the iron-ore price, saying they ignored the fact that prices dropped last year, despite the absence of Roy Hill tonnage.

“They also ignore the significant increases from now to the end of 2017 from other companies, which will significantly exceed shipments from Roy Hill. The initial shipments, such as this one today from Roy Hill, will only represent a small portion of its capacity of 55-million tonnes a year and their assessments don’t take into account that over 50% of Roy Hill’s output will be taken by the minority investment partners who are outside of China.

“With more than 90% of Roy Hill’s production secured under long-term contracts very little ore will actually enter the spot iron-ore market,” Watroba said.