JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore miner Western Desert Resources (WDR) on Monday announced that it had increased its direct shipping ore (DSO) mining volumes by 50% month-on-month during May to 229 000 t, as the company ramped up its pit-to-port logistics chain.

The increased mining volumes resulted in 285 000 t of DSO having been crushed, with 214 000 t having been hauled to the Bing Bong loading facility, in the Northern Territory, reflecting 14% and 18% month-on-month improvements respectively.

However, despite these improvements, WDR’s transhipping performance of 150 000 t was below expectation, resulting in a stockpile of 140 000 t of crushed DSO product accumulating at the Bing Bong loading facility, ready to be exported.

The below expectation shipping performance in May was primarily affected by offsite repairs to one primary tug, ensuring lost productivity for this hardware during the month and an inability to catch up lost tonnes during the last two weeks of May following its redeployment to site on May 18, and the delayed introduction of scheduled night time operations from May 23.

In light of lower shipping rates achieved in the last week of May upon the start of night time operations, WDR had downgraded its June forecast to 200 000 t for the month.

“WDR expects a step change in capacity from July onwards following appointment of a new barging operator and deployment of fit-for-purpose hardware,” the company said.

Meanwhile, WDR expected a continued improvement and ramp-up with regard to its pit-to-port logistics chain performance in June and throughout the dry-season months.

The company also announced that it had secured Darwin-based shipping contractor Broadsword Marine Contractors as its new barging operator to take control of its existing transhipping operators and fleet from June 15.

Further, a fit for purpose tug fleet, comprising three multicat push-tugs had been secured, with phased deployment to site expected during the last week of June, the first week of July and mid-August.

WDR expected its shipping capacity to improve going forward, given the start of 24/7 transhipping operations in late May and the introduction of the additional push-tugs to the fleet in late June.