Venture Minerals will send off first iron ore shipment in early September, shares up

Venture Minerals Ltd (ASX:VMS, OTC:VTMLF) is more than 20% higher on booking its first shipment of iron ore following the completion of plant commissioning and steady-state production achievement at its Riley Iron Ore Mine in Tasmania. The shipment will be hauled from Riley to the Port of Burnie, where a 46,000-tonne capacity bulk carrier vessel will be chartered by a major international shipping operator. Venture’s offtake partner and one of the world’s largest iron ore traders, Prosperity Steel United Singapore, will designate the discharge port in China. Shares have been as much as 26.6% higher this morning to 10.5 cents and VMS is currently at 10 cents while the market cap before the opening was approximately $110.7 million. Becoming an iron ore producer Venture managing director Andrew Radonjic said progress made in recent months at Riley had put the company in good stead. “Through the now completed commissioning of the plant, Venture already has a significant stockpile of iron ore ready to ship,” he said. “The achievement of steady-state production and consequently continuous ore haulage has enabled us to immediately charter a bulk carrier vessel to load and deliver the first shipment,” he said. “This marks a major milestone for us as we transition from a highly successful explorer to producer.” Riley Iron Ore being loaded onto Qube trucks destined for Burnie. Background progress Venture began the commissioning of its wet screening plant in May and it is now fully installed and operational. 24-hour processing is now underway and the first stage of steady-state production has been achieved, allowing the continuous ore haulage from Riley to the Burnie port. All of this has enabled Venture to book its first shipment, which is due for arrival in the second week of September. Venture then plans to work on continuous improvement programs for the following months as it ramps up production from one to two shipments per month. Other projects Venture has a multi-commodity focus, with exposure to platinum-group elements, zinc, nickel, copper, gold, lead, tin and tungsten also among its projects. Recently it doubled its nickel-copper-PGE portfolio with new tenure at Kulin Project in Western Australia. That followed drill spinning on a priority tin target at its Mount Lindsay Project in Tasmania. - Daniel Paproth