offtake.finance delay.flory comments

Perhaps the recent appointment of DRA and Byrnecut has had a knock on effect of delaying the final amount of cash required for the project with further apparent optimising of the optimal mine plan as per the last paragraph.

One can only hope this will be done asap and we will see what we have been expecting very shortly.

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AIM Resources secures mining contract
3 Aug 2006

AIM Resources has appointed Perth-based Byrnecut Mining as managing contractor for the construction and mining of the underground mine at the Perkoa zinc mine in Burkina Faso.

Byrnecut is the largest underground mining contractor in Australia, employing over 1,500 people and operating a multi-million dollar fleet of specialised underground mining equipment. Contract works include long-term mine development and production contracts, supplying management, labour, equipment and materials, raisedrilling, boxhole boring, shaftboring and shotcreting. These activities cover both gold and base metals operations. Current international underground mining contracts cover operations in the Ireland, Central Asia, Indonesia, West Africa and New Zealand.

The appointment enables the experienced team from AIM Resources and Byrnecut to work together to:

- optimise the Perkoa mine development plan and mining equipment requirements;

- commence underground development in early 2007; and

- ramp-up ore production in time for planned first delivery of concentrate in early 2008.

The process of optimising the mining plan with input from Byrnecut Mining has commenced. Several changes are being considered that will enhance the mining efficiency, reduce overall costs, and bring stopes into production at an earlier stage.

The scope of work for Byrnecut’s contract includes:

- detailed engineering and project execution of all underground development;

- mining of ore at an agreed grade and minimum rate; and

- logistical services from portal.

AIM Resources’ MD, Marc Flory said"Byrnecut provides a package of mining services which fits extremely well with our requirements for the Perkoa zinc project. This alliance-style agreement is predicated on working together in a mutually beneficial way as the project is progressed through the phases of planning, development and operations. This appointment should enable us to shortly finalise the optimal mine plan with Byrnecut. We will then be well placed to source suitable mining equipment and recruit qualified personnel to meet our project schedule. Perkoa is a high-grade, volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) orebody and Byrnecut is very experienced with developing and mining similar orebodies. We look forward to a successful partnership between Byrnecut and AIM Resources."


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