The West Australian reported that Mr David Flanagan stands in the Anson pit that makes up a big part of Atlas Iron's Wodgina iron ore mine, 110 kilometers south of Port Hedland.
Mr Flanagan said that "I was sitting in on question time during the minerals resource rent tax debate in Federal Parliament and I just felt really sad at the lies that were being told about us miners."
The fight may have been lost but the battle continues to rage, and the affable Atlas boss Mr Flanagan never wastes an opportunity to argue that Australia would be better off with a thriving mining industry investing millions in the local community, than a sector being taxed to smithereens.
And, Mr Flanagan argues, what is the benefit of a tax that discourages future generations of mining professionals our children if they have a choice of only four mining employers, that is the big boys, which many claim are able to protect their status quo because of the MRRT.
Under the leadership of the WA School of Mines graduate, Atlas wants to become a big player in its own right in the Pilbara iron ore industry.
Wodgina typifies Mr Flanagan's strategy produce as much iron ore as quickly as you can, and minimize capital costs.
In the case of Wodgina, the debt free Atlas managed to strike a deal with the owner of the then mothballed tantalum mine to share infrastructure that includes an ore crushing circuit and gas-fired power station. Mining operations are contracted out to BGC and Mineral Resources is in charge of the crushing.
Tantalum mining is up and running again and Global Advanced Metals now takes turns with Atlas to use the crusher. GAM washes out the crusher before running its tantalum ore through.
Atlas doesn't worry when it is its turn; it argues that to avoid 100kg or so of white tantalum dust straddling a 100,000 tonnes iron ore pile is not worth the time it would take to clean the crusher and therefore the potentially forfeited production at a time of high iron ore prices. The Wodgina deal cost Atlas about AUD 25 million plus future royalties.
First iron ore was produced in August 2010. Today the mine operates at a rate of four million tonnes a year, to rise to as much as 7 million tonnes per annum in 2012 once an expansion is complete.
Mr Flanagan reckons it would have cost Atlas at least AUD 150 million to build Wodgina from scratch. Not to mention several years before reaching these production levels.
Other small mines within about 150 kilometers of Port Hedland, such as Abydos, Mt Dove and Mt Webber, are due to come on stream over the next couple of years to boost Atlas' production capacity to 15 million tonnes per annum by late 2014, when work to bring Atlas' bigger mines in the southern Pilbara on stream should be well advanced.
By then Atlas should also have access to a railway, either through a deal with the likes of Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, an infrastructure specialist such as QR National, or maybe even its own line.
(Sourced from www.thewest.com.au)
