Posted on 19 Dec 2008
Atlas Iron Ltd has secured two iron ore sales agreements with separate Chinese steel mills and says more deals are on the way.
Atlas has not disclosed the identity of either customer but said one was a steel making major while the other was mid-tier.
Atlas shares were up two cents, or 2.6 per cent, at 79 cents at 1407 AEDT.
The iron ore producer has signed a long-term offtake agreement with a medium-sized Chinese steel mill for 30 per cent of output from its wholly owned Pardoo mine near Port Hedland in
The first shipment under this agreement - which runs until March 31, 2012 - is expected to be completed by the end of March next year.
The direct shipping ore (DSO) will be sourced from the Bobby deposit at the Pardoo project, where mining is underway.
Atlas said the price was "referenced to the long-term benchmark".
It also announced on Friday that it had finalised an offtake deal with a large Chinese steel mill for the sale of the second shipment of iron ore from the Connie deposit, which is also part of the Pardoo project.
The 65,000-tonne first shipment left from Fortescue Metals Group Ltd's port facilities, under an access deal with Atlas, a fortnight ago.
An Atlas spokesman said on Friday that offtake deals for the remaining output from the Pardoo project were expected to be secured by early next year.
"The level of interest demonstrated in the Atlas product has been very strong, despite the challenging global economic situation," managing director David Flanagan said.
"Atlas is looking forward to ... finalising negotiations with other interested parties for the remainder of the projected Pardoo production."
The company announced last week that it had made a new DSO discovery at its Wodgina project and signed a native title mining agreement for its
Atlas is cashed-up with zero debt and plans to export 12 million tonnes of iron ore by 2012.
