Since 1965 Savage River Mines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pickands Mather International, operated an open-cut magnetite mine at Savage River west of Waratah and a pellet plant and loading facility at Port Latta on the northwest coast. PMI, after examining a number of options, decided to cease operations on completion of their current pit mining plan, with open-cut operations ceasing in April 1996 and all stockpiled ore being treated by the end of 1996.
Australian Bulk Minerals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, took over the Savage River lease in March 1997. A $110 million refurbishment program was undertaken to allow the production of ore to commence in November 1997. The mine and proceesing plant have recently been sold to Grange Resources Limited.
Magnetite concentrate is pumped from the mine site to the pellet plant via an 85 km long pipeline. The operation was originally designed at 2.5 million tonnes/year of pellet production but after restructuring in 1990 initially operated at 1.5 million tonnes/year.
Production of crushed ore from the Savage River open cut in 2007/2008 totalled 0.649 million tonnes, with 2.4 million tonnes of pellets being produced at Port Latta.
Resources at March 2008 totalled 323.2 million tonnes @ 50.5% recoverable magnetite.
Employment at June 2008 was about 522 people.
A feasibility study completed in 2006 showed that mine life could be extended to 2018, with closure of the project in 2022. As part of this program a new in-pit workshop was constructed during the year and new mining equipment was purchased.
