Venture terminated its mining and processing contract with Shaw Contracting and the haulage and ship loading deal with Qube Ports.

A care and maintenance plan for Riley has been lodged with the state's Environmental Protection Authority, with a mine technician based nearby in Tullah looking after the site.

Mining at Riley started in 2021 following an offtake deal with Singapore's Prosperity Steel, which agreed to buy 100% of the mine's product for the first two years of production.

The first shipment of 45,632 tonnes of iron ore with an average grade of 57.3% iron went to a discharge port in China.

Under the terms of the offtake agreement Venture was to get $5.1 million.

However, not long after the ship sailed over the horizon Venture announced mining would be suspended pending a review of operations, blaming the declining iron ore price, a volatile shipping market caused by congestion in Chinese ports, COVID-19, and political impacts.

Venture managing director Andrew Radonjic said at the time the company would turn its attention to its flagship Mount Lindsay tin-tungsten project.

In a recent announcement, Radonjic said Venture was keeping an eye on the recent strengthening of the Platts 62% iron price to US$130 per tonne.

"However, we note the discount for super special fines is still about 40% for the month of January 2022 and the shipping price is still high around US$39 per tonne, well above the feasibility study levels," he said.

"Our agents and advisors expect the iron ore price to continue to be highly volatile over the course of the year and Venture continues to position itself to allow for shorter campaign start-ups should the opportunity arise."

Venture plans to go underground at Mt Lindsay, to target high-grade tin and tungsten zones within the existing tin-tungsten resource.