The South Australian Government has announced it will support a proposal by IronClad to reshape its transport plan for linking the Wilcherry Hill mine to port facilities on the Eyre Peninsula.

“The Government has agreed to sponsor the proposed changes to the existing development approval so IronClad can construct a buffer storage facility,” State Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Tom Koutsantonis said.

IronClad has already won development approval to transport iron ore from the proposed Wilcherry Hill mine north of Kimba to port facilities at Lucky Bay.

From the port at Lucky Bay, the ore mined at Wilcherry Hill is to be transhipped to bulk carriers for export.

“This facility about 1.5 kilometres from Lucky Bay will significantly reduce the cost of shipping ore,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

The first stage at Wilcherry Hill involves production of 1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of Direct Shipping Ore for export to Asia, ramping up to 2 mtpa in the second year of output.