Reuters reported that London Mining which began producing iron ore from its Marampa operation in Sierra Leone earlier this month has delayed its first shipment to January.

It said the delay, from an initial target that would have seen a first shipment before the end of 2011 would allow it to use larger Supramax sized vessels, instead of Handymax sized vessels for no additional freight cost, improving margins.

The miner said Marampa was producing concentrate with a specification of over 65% iron and low impurities high specification iron ore that should improve opportunities to export to Europe.

It said capacity of over 160,000 tonnes per month is expected to be reached in the first half of 2012.

(Sourced from Reuters)