Perth-based iron ore miner Atlas said today that while media reports were tipping an announcement about the Ridley deposit in the Pilbara, talks were still ongoing.

The company did say it had received “strong interest from capable organisations” in Ridley and talks were “advancing well”

Ridley could produce up to 15 million tonnes of magnetite per year from mineral resources of 2.01 billion tonnes at 36.5% magnetite.

In a feasibility study, Atlas estimated the project could cost $A2.97 billion to develop.

The study suggested the project would be powered by its own 330MW power station and a concentrator pipeline would deliver magnetite product 20km offshore to a floating trans-shipment facility.

Discussions with steel mills over offtake for the Wodgina DSO operation are also continuing, Atlas said.

Wodgina is expected to begin production early this year at an initial rate of 2 million tonnes per annum, growing to 3.6Mtpa by late 2010.

The ore will be trucked to the new Utah Point port facility in Port Hedland, which is expected to be operational in April 2010. Atlas has been allocated 6Mtpa capacity at the port.

The estimated capital cost for Wodgina is very low at around $10 million, thanks to an agreement with Talison Minerals to use existing infrastructure, including a camp and crushing facilities.

With the addition of mining at Wodgina and the Abydos deposit to operations at Pardoo, Atlas is targeting exports of 6Mtpa by the end of 2010, growing to 12Mtpa by 2012.

Shares in Atlas were last traded at $2.18, up 5c this morning after the company came out of a trading halt.