article

Mincor ramps up production
Colin Jacoby
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Source: MiningNews

MINCOR Resources says it will be targeting 20,000 tonnes of nickel per annum from its Kambalda operations in Western Australia.

Mincor in action at its Kambalda mines

Speaking today at the Mining 2007 Conference in Brisbane, Mincor Resources chief operating officer Steve Cowie told delegates that the target was within reach for the nickel play.

"We are pretty confident that we can do it," he said.

"We have got five mines in production we have got another mine in development, that's Carnilya Hill, and we are in the process of undertaking two feasibility studies, one for McMahon and one for the Durkin deposits.

"In addition we have continually increased our resources and reserves, and further down the track we still have very good exploration potential at the Widgiemooltha dome and the northern end of the Kambalda dome and the Carnilya Hill tenements.

˜We have a comprehensive pipeline of projects all the way through from exploration all the way through to operating mines, and on the basis of this we are targeting to grow our business to 20,000 tonnes of nickel in ore per annum."

Cowie said the historic performance supported the ramp-up in production as much as Mincor’s success in exploration over recent years.

"Kambalda has consistently produced in excess of 35,000 tonnes of nickel," he said.

"Even after its closure in 1999, the field has quickly rebounded to those historic levels so this demonstrates the terrific endowment of the region and the ability to continually find new reserves and additions to existing reserves."

Cowie said he believed the company had the resource inventory to support the production target.

"We have had a consistent track record of growing our mineral resource base¦ we have been finding more resources more quickly, year in year out, than our production which has been accelerated," he said.

The company has 146,300t of nickel metal contained in mineral resources, up from last year's estimate of 75,800t, and some 62,700t of contained nickel in ore reserves.

Cowie said the increase in resources in 2007 was due to the discovery at Mariners and also the Carnilya Hill discovery and the Otter Juan operations, which it recently acquired.

"So this provides a pretty good base on which we can deliver that 20,000-tonne target," he added.

During the September quarter, Otter Juan mine producing 1298t of nickel in concentrate at a cash cost of $A4.54 per pound during the quarter, bringing Mincor's total costs to $5.96/lb across all of its nickel operations.

The company acquired Otter Juan from a private company earlier this year for a $68.5 million consideration.

Yesterday, Mincor reported a record 4359t of nickel concentrate by the end of September from its Kambalda operations.

Shares in Mincor closed today 14c higher at $5.10.