epa whingers, page-8

Good read below from "The West Australian"

Approval delays push out Gindalbie’s Mid-West timetable

22nd April 2009, 7:00 WST

Delays in receiving approvals have blown out Gindalbie Metals’ development timetable for its $1.8 billion iron ore project in the Mid-West by as much as 12 months, with the miner saying yesterday it did not expect to start magnetite production until 2011.

Gindalbie said it would also hold off appointing a mining contractor until it received the final environmental tick for its Karara project.

On the eve of a visit to Perth by Professor Zhang Xiaogang, president of Gindalbie’s Chinese partner Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (Ansteel), the WA miner used its quarterly activities report to tell shareholders it now expected construction at Karara to start in the December quarter.

Based on the revised schedule, Gindalbie said it expected to start magnetite production in the first half of 2011 instead of the second half of 2010, as planned. Production of hematite at Karara, which is mainly a magnetite venture, is still planned for the second half of 2010.

However, Gindalbie said it remained confident of receiving all necessary approvals, which include the final sign-off from the Environmental Protection Authority and Foreign Investment Review Board approval for its $162 million tie-up with Ansteel.

The news follows last month’s surprise FIRB request for Ansteel to resubmit its investment application against a backdrop of heightened interest in Chinese investment in WA’s resources sector — the latest in a series of delays that scuttled plans Gindalbie held as recently as last year to be in production by the end of calendar 2009. Shareholders have already overwhelmingly approved the deal, which would see the Chinese group boost its stake in the miner from 12.6 per cent to 36.3 per cent through a $162 million share placement. Ansteel already owns a halfstake in Gindalbie’s flagship Karara project in the Mid-West, for which it has already built a purpose-designed steel mill in China.

Gindalbie shares rose 1.5¢ to 64¢.

KATE EMERY