Their partner, Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation has engaged a third party in a bid to determine the viability of their Karara iron ore mine in Western Australia in light of the predicaments currently plaguing the steel sector.

The Karara situation is nothing new for a sector that saw iron ore slipping 39 percent in 2015 to cement three years of straight losses, leading to major mining operations across Australia shutting down and iron ore bottoming at $38.30 a metric tonne.

BC Iron Limited for example suspended its Nullagine joint venture with Fortescue Metals Group Limited, Australia’s third largest producer, due to lower prices. Even anticipated foreign investment such as Baosteel’s proposed project in Western Australia has been indefinitely delayed.

Some experts claim that the near collapse of iron ore prices might actually be much needed shot in the face of the inertia that has seeped into the sector, prompting the closure of many large mines that should have been shuttered off even earlier.

Matthew Hodge, a Sydney based analyst, is one of them, bemoaning the need for more closures in the sector, saying: “Some of them should potentially go and that’s a positive, but we are only at the beginning, while there’s that oversupply out there, the market needs more pain.”

Gindalbie has already requested formal notification from Ansteel for reassurance on their long term support for Karara, but has yet to receive a response, the Australian company said in the statement.