atlas iron storms into the asx top 100

http://www.minesite.com/nc/minews/singlenews/article/atlas-iron-storms-into-the-asx-top-100-as-iron-ore-production-rises/41.html

March 25, 2011
Atlas Iron Storms Into The ASX Top 100, As Iron Ore Production Rises

By Our Man in Oz

Little more than two years ago canny investors were loading up with Atlas Iron shares at A45 cents a pop. Today, they?re looking down the barrel of a 600 per cent gain, as a company which started life looking for gold instead carves out a place for itself as one of Australia?s most successful iron ore exporters. The upward share price movement from Atlas, from its late 2008 low to recent trades at around A$3.26 represents recognition that Atlas is now a world-class iron ore producer. Indeed that fact is now so well recognised that the company has snatched a place among the top 100 on the ASX. And there should be more good news to come, because Atlas is one of the few Australian iron ore miners that has mastered the industry?s three key challenges: to prove up iron ore in the ground, to gain access to a port, and to secure people able to join it all up, by means of logistics and deals.

The latest of those deals was the friendly merger with another iron ore player in the Pilbara region, Giralia Resources. Like Atlas, Giralia had found plenty of iron in the ground - in one case atop the same hill as Atlas. Unlike Atlas, Giralia was struggling to achieve the equally important ?infrastructure solution? of road or rail access to a port. Bringing Atlas and Giralia together is a rare example of one plus one equalling three. The merged business today has two producing mines, a...