Ebola strikes down West African iron ore company

The dispute with Glencore over off-take agreements wouldn’t have helped either…

Embattled West African iron-ore miner London Mining said on Thursday that its board had decided to place the company into administration.

The company, which owns the Marampa mine in Sierra Leone, has been battling high costs, a sharp drop in iron prices and the impact of the Ebola virus on operations in West Africa.

London Mining’s Marampa mine, which boasts a billion tonne resource, is about 120 km from Freetown, the capital of the West African nation.

The Marampa mine is a brownfields site formerly operated by the Sierra Leone Development Company (DELCO) and William Baird between 1933 and 1975.

Marampa reached a peak production of 2.5mtpa before low iron ore prices forced its closure.

Continuing weak market economics and civil war prevented redevelopment of the mine until the mining licence was acquired by London Mining in 2006.

Via BDlive

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