WIMMERA Container Line says it has received its first TEU of mineral sands from the WIM Resources project in western Victoria.
The logistics provider, part of SCT Group, has been anticipating the shipment for some 10 years and was delighted to make the first rail delivery of ore to the Port of Melbourne.
WIM Resources said once sampling is completed and the project goes into production, the volume of export ore will jump to 65,000 tonnes per annum.
Charles Mobrici, commercial director and board member of SCT Group said the development was exciting.
“Over the last 10 years I have heard it will be two years away and today we finally railed our first container to Port of Melbourne,” Mr Mobrici said.
WIM Resources’ flagship project is an even larger sand mine at Dooen, known as Avonbank.
When the mine is up and running, the company is set to export up to 25,000 containers a year.
Notably there are two other mines in the region, Donald Sands and Iluka totalling a reported 50,000 containers per annum.
Based on the Wimmera Southern Mallee Mining Sector plan released in 2012 the Wimmera Southern Mallee is part of the Murray Basin mineral sands deposit. It is one of the world’s largest mineral sands deposits. It is estimated that the region could service over 15% of the world’s demand for mineral sands for the next 40 years.
