Atlas Iron Wants to Divest Uranium Mine Stake to Focus on Iron Ore Expansion Plans
Atlas Iron Ltd. wants to divest its share of a uranium prospect to focus on its iron ore expansion plans amid the commodity's plummeting prices in the world marker triggered by China's softening demand.
The company likewise cleared it is not in any way troubled to desire the divestment of the Lake Frome uranium project in South Australia.
"We're not a distressed seller in any possible sales but we have discussions underway with potential parties who are predominantly end user or trading groups," Mark Hancock, Atlas Iron executive director, told Dow Jones.
Mr Hancock likewise shrugged off the current scenario in the global iron industry could spell the doom of Australia's iron ore miners and its sector.
"It's still business as usual, we're aiming to produce 12 million tonnes by the end of calendar 2013," Mr Hancock said, noting two projects, the Mt. Dove and Abydos mines in Australia, together will credit for 10 million tonnes yearly. Mt. Webber will subsidise the rest.
"We'll keep an eye on trends and won't ignore what's going on around us, but we think the current projects we're putting in place still make sense to push on with," the Atlas Iron executive said. Depending on the scenario, Atlas's smaller-scale investments can be sped up or slowed down, he pointed out.
The price of key steelmaking ingredient iron ore fell to US$86.70 a dry metric tonne last week, its lowest since October 2009.
"Any price below $100 feels difficult to me and I expect to see it back above that in the fairly near term," Mr Hancock said. "There hasn't been a Fukushima-type event that makes you think it's going to make it hard for the sector."