Iron ore miner Arrium Limited
(ASX:ARI) will mothball its Southern Iron mining operation in a bid to control costs as ore prices continue to slide.
The company says the mine is a higher cost operation and that it will focus its efforts on its lower cost Middleback ranges operation.
Efforts are being made to bring total cash costs down by 20 per cent to an average of $57 dry metric tonne by 2016.
The company hopes to cut $200 million in capital spending between 2016 and 2019.
CEO Andrew Roberts says the re-design is scheduled for completion by the end of June 2015 leaving Arrium well positioned to return cash to the group in FY16.
Arrium reported a net profit of $206.6 million in the 2014 financial year.
