Noble Group iron ore head Ben Stewart told MiningNews.net this afternoon that an ABC Rural report yesterday that signalled the imminent end of Frances Creek was inaccurate.

But he did confirm that the operation, 200km south of Darwin, was under review and the company wasn’t holding out hope of an iron ore price rebound.

“Low prevailing prices are putting operational assets under pressure,” he told MNN from Singapore.

Rather than shutting the mine down, Stewart said no decision had been made and instead the company was “reconsidering the scale” of operations.

“There’s no conclusion about what that might look like,” he said.

Stewart said the review into the 1.5 million tonne per annum operation was ongoing and there was no timeframe for its completion.

In the meantime, Stewart said the company was maintaining strong communication with stakeholders.

“We’ve done the right thing and we’re continuing to do the right thing with the residents of Pine Creek and the traditional owners,” he said.

Hong Kong-based Noble owns Territory after completing a $A133 million takeover of the Australian company in 2011, beating a rival bid from South Africa’s Exxaro Resources.