Session. We've got John Welborn up next. He's the Executive Chairman of Fenix Resources. John's a veteran resources executive who was appointed Chairman of Fenix in November 2021 and later became the Executive Chairman. Under his leadership, Fenix has built an integrated iron ore mining, logistics, and shipping business centered on Western Australia's Midwest region. Over to you, John.
Thanks very much, Tom. It's a great honor to be back at Diggers & Dealers after a one-year break representing Fenix. To tell our exciting story. I really appreciate the invitation to present, the Fenix presentation today is an invitation to all of you to join us. If you're a digger, if you know how to operate a digger, if you're a geologist, a mining engineer, a stakeholder in the mining industry, there's an invitation to come and join us in what we think is a very exciting story. If you're here as a contractor, please come and see us.
If you're a dealer, we'd love to talk to you about how you can support our project. If you're interested in owning shares, please do join us in the Fenix story. Fenix is an iron ore producer, with a fully integrated mining, logistics, and export port business out of Geraldton. We have a unique business model. We export very high-grade direct shipping ore, we're expanding our business with an ambition to be a 10-million-ton-a-year producer. Our ambition is to be the new Western Force in iron ore. It's 20 years since the Western Force started their status as the premier rugby union team in Western Australia.
Coincidentally, it's about 20 years since Andrew Forrest stood on this stage and spoke about being the new force in iron ore, there's a lot of differences between Fenix and FMG. The similarity is in the commodity. We're an iron ore producer. The other similarity is the scale of our ambition and potentially the current lack of recognition of the potential of the Midwest, the excitement that we have about the opportunity we have in front of us at Fenix. It's great to be back at Diggers & Dealers.
The only other important point on this slide for everyone who's here in the auditorium watching the presentation or seeing it online is to remember our ASX code, which is F-E-X. If you have any trouble remembering that, I encourage you to look up FEX in the Urban Dictionary. The definition uses the first letter F and matches it with excellence, you can work out why FEX is what we're aiming for at Fenix. This presentation doesn't have a lot of numbers in it, but I will make, unsurprisingly, some forward-looking statements.
Please look at our ASX announcements, particularly the June quarterly activities report we published recently. We set a range of records across our business, including, again, meeting guidance in our FY 2025 numbers. We're also obviously preparing to publish our annual report, which will have a lot of important information in it, and will also allow the Board to make a dividend declaration decision consistent with our dividend policy and our eagerness to reward our shareholders. What I'd like to do today, though, is just give a description of our business and talk about our ambition and our plans to get to 10 million tons.
This picture's a great one to start with. This is the Iron Ridge mine. Fenix completed a feasibility study for the Iron Ridge project in 2019. Key parameters that it identified was that we believed we could mine, haul, and ship iron ore for a C1 cash cost, FOB Geraldton, of AUD 85 per ton. We identified that it would cost us AUD 15 million in capital to establish that operation, and that that operation could run at 1.4 million tons per annum. We achieved all of those things, and in fact, I challenge anyone in the industry six years later, our C1 cash costs in our most recent guidance and in our most recent performance is below AUD 75 a ton.
We've had enormous success in a disciplined and focused approach to our business. I noticed at this year's Diggers, not a lot of companies are focusing on cost as a core discipline, particularly obviously in the gold game. Producers are experiencing gangbuster gold prices, and obviously it allows producers to chase higher margins, and therefore incur higher costs. We don't have that opportunity at Fenix. We're focused very strongly on safety, on production, and on costs. We've got a really good performance in all of those things.
At the top of this slide, you can see the blue sky, and underneath the blue sky is the Weld Range. Each of those hills represents direct shipping ore that we now have an exclusive 30-year right to mine, 290 million tons. You can see in the sunlight the pit wall of Iron Ridge, where we've mined 8 million tons of direct shipping ore exactly in line and consistent with the feasibility study that we identified. We've got a very simple crushing and screening process. This is simplicity. Low strip ratio, high-quality direct shipping ore.
You can see a beautiful stockpile of our high-grade lump product. In the foreground, one of our 60-meter-long quad road trains that then hauls that product 500 km, currently on public roads, all the way to Geraldton, where we ship it to our customers. This business has allowed us to invest more than AUD 300 million in growing this business. We haven't raised any equity since we raised the AUD 15 million we need to build this mine in 2020. In fact, we've paid back more than AUD 75 million in fully franked dividends to our shareholders while we're building a business.
It's a discipline that we continue to focus on. It's great to be representing diversity here at Diggers & Dealers. It's not something I'm usually doing. I believe I'm the only iron ore producer here amongst gold miners, gold explorers, and the excitement on the critical minerals index, and a whole range of other commodities. Jim Walker opened the conference pointing out how the world needs our commodities, particularly our critical minerals.
Joe Hockey, in his keynote, spoke about the importance of energy transition, of reconstruction, of military investment globally, of the growth of [AI], and how all of that was such an important opportunity for Australia and the various participants here at this conference in relation to critical minerals, and particularly metals. I couldn't agree more, but I'd point out that all of those metals, all of those minerals, are actually a derivative index on steel. All of the things that we need those minerals for ultimately relate to the defining industrial commodity of economic growth, which is steel, and therefore iron ore.
We're delighted to be in the iron ore industry. In the same session that Jim introduced and Joe Hockey participated in, Dom Piper referred to this mining forum as a gold conference. I can understand why he made the difference. With the bumper gold price, I notice that the WA Government is about to enjoy AUD 1 billion of royalties from gold mining in Western Australia. It's a big number. What a great thing for the state government. Iron ore contributes AUD 10 billion of royalty income to the Western Australian Government. It's almost 90% of all the royalties that the Western Australian Government produces.
While Dom might think we're here at a gold conference, and we might think that we're in the mining industry in Western Australia, really, we're all participating in the iron ore industry. Everything else is a derivative. Get on board iron ore. Why should you be interested in iron ore? This is the long-term price graph. We've built a business during a period of time where everyone is bearish on the iron ore price, and you can see why.
The reason why we've been successful in bringing our costs down over the last five years and maintaining discipline is because we've had to. If you can see, we got into production in late 2021, at a very brief peak in the iron ore price, which we enjoyed, but we've had to run our business in a depreciating price environment, and we've rewarded our shareholders with dividends, we've invested in growth, and we're confident in a long-term pathway to huge value creation.
One of our confidences is that while we will experience volatility in our commodity price, and that's why we've had a very successful and simple approach to hedging the iron ore price, hedging where appropriate the exchange rate risk, and more recently, successfully hedging fuel. I think the long-term trend here is clear on iron ore prices and the importance of the iron ore industry. Importantly, it's a huge industry that we participate in.
We produce high-quality products. We're confident in profitability. This graph tells you why the richest people in Australia are iron ore miners. The biggest companies in our sector have been built on iron ore mining. It's simple. We're really good at it. One of the most amazing things about the Midwest that we mine in, iron ore was discovered there in 1870. There are billions of tons of iron ore in the Midwest.
We've started a business. We're building a business. We're going to be there for decades, and we're going to mine it. We have 290 million tons of resources. We stand on top of them. We started with a postage-sized envelope at Iron Ridge. We now have the opportunity to expand our production. This is a globally significant resource. It was explored and developed by a range of companies, amalgamated and invested in by Sinosteel, now owned by Baowu Steel, the world's largest steelmaker.
More than AUD 1.4 billion was invested in exploring and looking to develop the iron ore resources at Sinosteel. We now have a 30-year exclusive license to mine the 200 million tons of iron ore resources that currently exist on those tenements. We're very confident that there'll be more iron ore. It certainly allows us to focus on our 10 million ton per annum growth ambitions for a 15-year mine life. This is the map. This is the part of the world that we operate in.
You can see how big the footprint is of the Weld Range, that 290 million ton resource. The Iron Ridge mine that we built initially, that you saw the photograph of, is right in the middle of that. We mine, we crush, we screen, and we produce high-quality direct shipping ore lump and fines product. We then haul that currently on public roads through Mount Magnet, 500 km to Geraldton, where we export it to our customers. A couple of key things that have built our company. First of all, the high-grade resource at Iron Ridge. That's what Fenix floated on, raised that AUD 15 million.
Second of all was the establishment of a joint venture for our haulage operation. We now own 100% of that. It's the key element of our fully integrated supply chain. The next step on our growth pathway is that we acquired all of the Mount Gibson infrastructure in the Midwest. Mount Gibson successfully mined 50 million tons of iron ore before joining the mob here as now a gold development company. That's allowed us to inherit iron ore storage facilities at Geraldton Port, valued at more than AUD 200 million. A rail siding at Perenjori, a rail siding at Ruvidini that gives us future access to the Midwest rail network.
The Shine iron ore mine that we successfully commissioned as our second mining operation, and a range of other support infrastructure for our business. We have a unique business model. We mine, we haul, we ship. It's supported by unique infrastructure assets. The next key thing about this mine is the footprint that we have in the Weld Range. I'd also draw your attention to Jack Hills. It's the dotted line just north of the Weld Range.
There's 5 billion tons, roughly, of magnetite and hematite iron ore there, also controlled by Baowu Steel The dotted line is the Oakajee rail network that many might remember, leading to the proposed Oakajee Port just north of Geraldton. That's a key opportunity in the future of Fenix. We're in the middle of another transition of our business. Last year, we produced 4.4 million tons from Iron Ridge, from the Shine mine, and our third mine at the Beebyn-W11.
We also, in December, published a three-year plan about how last year's 4.4 million tons allowed us to guide 5 million tons this year, FY 2027, and we're aiming for 5.5 with a top point of 6 million tons in FY 2028 as the third year of that three-year plan. That sounds like a continued growth pathway of incremental development. However, it's actually a fundamental shift from operating three remote, separate iron ore mines with separate crushing and screening plants and separate logistics pathways and separate products, to operating the Beebyn Hub that we've now established.
The Beebyn Hub will ultimately be one of two hubs that will support our 10 million ton per annum operation. You can see both of them here on the map, the Beebyn Hub and the Madoonga Hub. You can get an idea of why we have a unique business model. The 290 million tons of iron ore resources are spread across that entire portfolio. However, we're confident that we're going to have an eventual reserve of around 150 million tons, aiming for products priced off the 61% index within those two hubs. We're establishing a 6 million ton per annum crushing and screening plant.
We're going to own and operate that plant at the Beebyn Hub. It's a transition to being actively involved in the 10 million ton per annum mining profile of the Weld Range. We're no longer constrained by resources. That growth story, fantastic track record. We've done everything we ever set out to do at Iron Ridge, at Shine, at W11. Last year, we did 4.4 million tons. We're aiming, midpoint of our guidance is 5 million tons next year. By the end of this financial year, we'll be operating entirely out of the Beebyn Hub.
Next year, we'll be aiming for 6 million tons. That's the end of our three-year plan. We move into what was identified, also published in December last year, the scoping study of a pathway to 10 million tons. Iron ore's about scale. We're very proud of our cost journey, but ultimately, it's about getting tons down the road. We're confident we can significantly increase our margin in the project that we've identified. It's a fundamental shift, again, in our business. At the moment, we're targeting AUD 75 FOB. The scoping study identified a pathway to AUD 55 FOB.
Times that by 10 million tons, dial in whatever iron ore price you like. This is a very, very strong cash flow business, and it's exciting. We already have AUD 100 million in franking credits itching to get out there to existing and new shareholders. I've mentioned cost out. This is what that looks like. 1.4 million tons from Iron Ridge in FY 2022. We had a cost just above that feasibility study of AUD 85 FOB. We've brought that down into the 70s consistently and sustained it. How impressive is that? Well, let's have a look at our peers in the iron ore industry.
This is indexed back to when we started production. No doubt you'll recognize that the majors with their scale, their tonnage, their infrastructure, have a very different cost profile to us. However, we're also exposed to the same drivers, to fuel, to labor index, to shipping. In a C1 cash cost basis, we've brought our cost down almost 20% since we started production. All the other ore miners have gone up more than 20% over the same area. That's a fantastic journey. We're now targeting another 30% reduction in our C1 cash cost.
All of that gets captured in our margin. This is a great testament to the discipline that we have in our business. We're a mining business. This is the three pits. We're moving up to the Weld Range. We operate our own logistics business. This is the new depot we've built in the industrial area on the outskirts of Geraldton. We're building the fleet up to 90 of those beautiful big blue 60 m road trains that you'll see driving straight, narrow, and safely on public roads if you're driving around the Midwest. We're building a training center here.
We have a service center. It's a state-of-the-art facility. We operate fantastic infrastructure at Geraldton Port. We can store 400,000 tons here. We load Panamax boats. It's a huge infrastructure asset. This is the port that shipped the first iron ore ever exported when the embargo was lifted in Western Australia in 1964. It's a port that we're very confident can scale up to be more than 10 million tons from the facilities that we already own and operate.
We don't need to build a port. We have one. I want to shout out to all the people. I've used this presentation invitation to join us. I usually talk to a video. I'm going to play this video. This is Sandon Block. He's our mine manager in the Weld Range. Have a look for what we do. You'll see our mining activities, you'll see our haulage activities, and you'll hear from one of our key people.
My name's Sandon Block. I'm Mine Manager for Fenix at Weld Range. I've been in the business for two and a half years. Fenix's ambitions for the Weld Range are long-term focused. We are looking at the three, the five, the 15, the 30-year pipeline for this project. Our goal is to become a 10-million-tonne per annum producer. We're currently just above 4 million tons per annum now. Two and a half years ago, we were at 1.4 million tons.
The growth is real. We do have a significant mine life ahead of us at Beebyn. We've got 15 years remaining here. We've got 290 million tons in the range that we're going to be developing. During that growth phase, we will be creating a huge amount of additional jobs. I think with Fenix, by having control of the entire supply chain from pit to port, it does create some diverse growth opportunities for individuals. You can start in the operations space, in the mining team. Hone your skills there before stepping into the logistics wing, in our integrated haulage division.
You can dip your toe in at port. Getting an understanding of that supply chain and all the innate interactions and how that works is something that we see as a massive benefit to the business. It's something that we strongly support. Why Fenix? We mine, we haul, we ship. We do it all in-house from pit to port. We oversee drill and blast, the load and haul, crushing and screening. We manage the haulage internally through our haulage division. We also load the ships at the other end. The critical part is managing our integrated supply chain and making sure that each of those divisions works collectively and strives to become that 10 million ton per annum producer.
Fantastic. We've got a mining business. We've got a logistics business. We've got a port business. Fenix is at Booth 75. Come and have a chat with us. I'm joined here at the conference by Miriam Sharp, Michael Roglich, Adrian Third, we'd love to tell you a little bit more about Fenix and our pathway to 6 million tons. Corporate snapshot. You can fit that entire business in a AUD 200 million market cap. We've got AUD 80 million in cash, and we're making more every day. Analyst coverage demonstrates the huge value that we've created and are creating. Thank you very much. Come and join us in the Fenix story.