Australian iron ore producer Mineral Resources (MinRes) reopened its private Onslow road late on March 21 after negotiations with the Worksafe WA labor safety regulator in Western Australia.
On March 19, the company closed the 150-kilometer highway that links its Onslow iron ore project with the port of Ashburton. Two ore trains heading to the port derailed on March 17, prompting Worksafe WA to issue a safety risk notice to MinErs along the road.
The Onslow freight road has faced significant difficulties in recent months. Cyclone Sean hit Western Australia in late January and damaged it after four road trains carrying ore on the highway derailed between August and November 2024.
MinRes plans to increase production at Onslow to 35 million tons/year during the July-September quarter, increasing the site's export capacity from 21 million tons/year to 28 million tons/year on March 22. The company also decided to leave its Onslow annual export forecast unchanged at 8.8–9.3 million wet metric tons (mtt) of ore on March 24.
MinRes produced 58.4% of the iron ore content at the Onslow mine between July and December 2024. Prices for fine-grained iron ore with an iron content of 58% cfr Qingdao have been volatile over the past three months: they rose from $88 per tonne on December 23 to $94.70 per tonne on February 21, and then fell again to $85.70 per tonne on March 21.
