Fri Nov 11, 2011
FREETOWN (Reuters) - The first shipment of iron ore from African Minerals' Ltd Tonkolili mine in Sierra Leone has left for China, the West African state's deputy minister for natural resources said on Friday.
Ignoses Koroma said a 40,000-tonne shipment of ore mined by the London-listed miner had been put on a ship destined for China.
African Minerals started mining late last year and had since been stockpiling the ore. It expects to export about 1.2 million tonnes of iron ore during the current fourth quarter.
The first shipment is a significant step in Sierra Leone's recovery from over a decade of war that ended in 2002, having killed tens of thousands of people.
Production capacity at Tonkolili mine, African Minerals' primary asset, is currently at 2.5-3.0 million tonnes per year and it will increase to 15 million tonnes per year once phase one of the project will be completed, likely in the second quarter of 2012, the company has said.
(sourced Reuters)
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