Monday, November 30, 2009

Oz Minerals Seeks To Boost Prominent Hill Output

Australia's giant gold and copper producer, OZ Minerals Ltd., has shared plans of boosting the output at its key Prominent Hill mine in South Australia over the coming year, and for the purpose is looking to speed up the underground expansion of the operation.

"Our immediate focus is targeting higher mill throughput for 2010, unit cost containment and margin improvement at Prominent Hill. Good progress has been made on the underground feasibility study at Prominent Hill and, with a positive outcome and board approval, we plan to fast track development to maximize value from the asset", shared the Melbourne based company in an official statement to the Australian stock exchange.

The announcement has been a part of the drive initiated by Chief Executive Officer Terry Burgess, which came to light last month after a 100-day strategic review he ordered. After being appointed CEO in August, Mr. Burgess had shared that to increase the output of gold and copper is of top priority to him.

OZ Minerals was, until recently, the world's second-largest miner of zinc, a unit which was affected by sales of the company's $1.6 Billion worth of mines, a step taken to cut debts. The firm has shared that with the new cash, it has every intention of buying new operations.

To take its boost of copper and gold project further, OZ Minerals has revealed that it is looking to form a joint venture with IMX Resources. The former will be buying the latter's 26.1 million shares, which would give OZ a 15% stake in IMX.

Source: Top News

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