Sorry, might have a go at that last paragraph again,
"Why this is relevant is because the mill is paying for each percentage of Fe. However if a mine has a higher LOI figure to the benchmark. The mill is unfairly being penalised. For fines, the mill takes most notice of the CaFe figure. Not the Fe figure. Since it is the CaFe that is fed into the furnace."
That should read. The miner is unfairly being penalised ... not the mill.
Also to note.
Alumina and Silica don't on the whole harm the end steel product. These two impurities slow the furnace's feed down. They also slow down the slintering feed. It's harder for the mill to convert the fines into pellets for the furnace during sintering. And the furnace won't produce as much steel per hour the higher the Alumina and Silica. It's basically just a pain in the backside for the mill.
Another impurity that is seldem mentioned is Sulphur. Not really a problem in small amounts. But if the product contains too much Sulphur, then it makes the product "Spit" in the furnace.
Phosphorous is different though. Phos will never fall away with the slag in the furnace. It stays in the steel. Too much P makes the steel too brittle. A high P limits what your steel can be used for.
Too much P will usually attact a higher penalty then too much Alumina and Silica. If the figures are marginally higher then the exceptable level, then it won't be too much of a problem. But obviously the worse the figure, the higher the penalty you can expect.
Atlas Iron probably should have the penalty available to it's shareholders somewhere. But it won't neccessarily be based on the benchmark anyway. You price agreed to, is probably exclusive to AGO and your off-take partner/s.
AGO Price at posting:
$2.97 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held