Atlas Iron Limited report that the first ore from its two North Pilbara iron ore mines, Wodgina and Pardoo, is now being loaded on to the Bergen Max at the new Utah Port.

Atlas has been stockpiling ore at the Utah Point Port Facility for the first vessel, the Bergen Max since early September 2010. The loading of Atlas ore onto the Bergen Max is being completed as part of the Utah Point commissioning process.

The Utah port is at the heart of Atlas' scheduled increase in production to 6 million tonne per annum by Christmas and then to 12 million tonne per annum by 2012.

Mr David Flanagan MD of Atlas said that "This is a momentous day for Atlas, its shareholders, staff and the Pilbara community. Utah Point is the first truly multi user port in the Pilbara where miners other than majors can export their products.”

Mr Flanagan said that "On behalf of the Atlas team, I would like to thank Andre Bush and his Port Hedland Port Authority team, Pinc, Goodline/ECM joint venture, Ertech and Brierty for their tremendous work in bringing this project to fruition. Andre's vision for a multi-user port in Port Hedland over four years ago has, after a huge amount of work, been brought to life at Utah Point. It's a great achievement for the PHPA and Western Australia."