Denver, Colorado-based Geovic Mining is optimistic it can secure and sign off on a financing package and then start building its Nkamouna cobalt/nickel/manganese project by year-end, CEO Jack Sherborne said on Tuesday.
The mine, which is expected to be one of the biggest producers of cobalt in the world, was originally to have begun production this year.
However, the company, like many of its peers, put the financing process on hold in November 2008 amid turmoil in global markets, although it continued with optimisation studies and test work in the interim.
Geovic holds 60% of Geovic Cameroon (GeoCam), which owns the large Nkamouna project. The balance is held by the National Investment Corporation of Cameroon and local investors.
After settling on what it believes is a more efficient processing plan, and with growing interest from potential funders, GeoCam has started work on an updated feasibility study and Geovic announced last month that it had hired Standard Chartered to advise on project financing.
"We are about as confident about this project moving ahead right now as we have been for quite some time," Sherborne told Mining Weekly Online.
"We're going to try to move it just as fast as we can."
The feasibility study update is expected by mid-year, and the firm has already started evaluating financing options.
Sherborne said Geovic continues to look at conventional debt/equity solutions, but has also been eyeing some less traditional financing packages arranged by other companies in the last six months or so.
For example, an offtake agreement or strategic partnership could be tied to a debt financing package together with an equity interest in the project.
"That is a different approach to what we had been taking up until about a year ago, but it's a conceptual package that we are interested in pursuing. And we have had some interested parties that we have been discussing that type of opportunity with."
Overall, interest in mining projects has firmed considerably over the last few months, from institutions like development banks, but also from commercial banks, he said.
There has also been strong interest from Asian groups, including from China and Korea, looking to secure big offtake agreements.
A September 2008 study pegged the capital cost to builf the Nkamouna project at $379-million, but Sherborne expects that figure will come down, given lower prices for some materials and other costs, plus the changes to the project that will be included in the feasibility study update.
"We are sort of targeting somewhere around $350-million for the capital cost right now," he said.
"But of course it will be quite some time before we can really talk about that number definitively."
The adjustments to the processing technology were aimed at reducing the risk and improving the 'bankability' of the project and are expected to shave a bit off the capital cost because GeoCam has opted to to manufacture intermediate, rather than finished, cobalt and nickel products, in addition to a finished manganese carbonate product.
Cobalt is used in gas turbine aircraft engines, batteries and catalysts.
While demand for the metal was relatively soft in 2009, the market appears to have begun strengthening over the last month or so, Sherborne said.
"My sense is that it will continue to strengthen. There seems to be quite a pick-up in the battery end of the cobalt market and that seems to be driving the demand a little bit.
"And this is likely to translate into slightly stronger prices as time goes by," he said.
The Nkamouna project contains measured and indicated resources of 120,6-million tons, grading 0,23% cobalt, 0,65% nickel and 1,34% manganese.
Inferred resources currently stand at 202,5-million tons, grading 0,2% cobalt, 0,59% nickel and 1,2% manganese.
The September 2008 feasibility study estimated total cash costs at $2,02/lb of cobalt, while direct costs, net of by-products, were forecast at negative $0,46/lb.
At the time, the mine life was estimated at around 19 years, but GeoCam announced in October it had almost doubled the measured and indicated resources.
This means it is likely the updated feasibility study will include increased reserve figures and an extended operating life.
Source: Mining Weekly
Showing posts with label cameroon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cameroon. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Iron Ore Exploration Intensifies In Cameroon
Exploration works are currently going on in Mongmamel, some 60 kilometres from Kribi towards Campo in Cameroon, to determine the amount of iron ore and its richness for imminent exploitation. A Chinese firm, "SINOSTEEL" under its programme, "China NCEII Iron Ore Exploration Project Management", is currently digging and extracting samples of the mineral for studies.
The President, General Manager of SINOSTEEL, Tianwen Huang, went visiting the site Wednesday November 4, 2009. Though he declined disclosing to the press the purpose of his visit to Cameroon and to the site, officials of the company who opted for anonymity said the visit was to appraise work on the project. Workers on the site told CT that they have been working there for over six months and that their work consists in detecting and extracting the mineral. They disclosed that already extracted quantity is packaged and sent abroad for proper study.
The Director of Mines and Geology in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, Oscar Matip, who accompanied the SINOSTEEL officials to the sites said the Chinese firm wants to confirm earlier diagnoses of the presence of minerals on the sites. Earlier studies, he said, showed that some 350 million tons of reserves were there and that the sampling work the Chinese firm is undertaking could also improve on earlier findings. He disclosed that the ongoing certification work on the site will permit them to determine how much of the mineral is there. "This will be followed by an evaluation of the quantity of the reserve and then exploitation", Mr. Matip said, adding that it is only then that an exploitation contract could be signed between the extracting firm and the government of Cameroon.
Over 1,800 metres of the sampling works have already been executed and officials of the Ministry said, government, through control teams from the Ministry as well as the South Regional Delegation of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, ensures the control of the project.
SINOSTEEL Corporation is a central enterprise under the administration of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. It is mainly engaged in developing and processing of metallurgical mineral resources, trading and logistics of metallurgical raw materials and products, and related engineering technical service and equipment manufacture.
Source: AllAfrica.com
The President, General Manager of SINOSTEEL, Tianwen Huang, went visiting the site Wednesday November 4, 2009. Though he declined disclosing to the press the purpose of his visit to Cameroon and to the site, officials of the company who opted for anonymity said the visit was to appraise work on the project. Workers on the site told CT that they have been working there for over six months and that their work consists in detecting and extracting the mineral. They disclosed that already extracted quantity is packaged and sent abroad for proper study.
The Director of Mines and Geology in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, Oscar Matip, who accompanied the SINOSTEEL officials to the sites said the Chinese firm wants to confirm earlier diagnoses of the presence of minerals on the sites. Earlier studies, he said, showed that some 350 million tons of reserves were there and that the sampling work the Chinese firm is undertaking could also improve on earlier findings. He disclosed that the ongoing certification work on the site will permit them to determine how much of the mineral is there. "This will be followed by an evaluation of the quantity of the reserve and then exploitation", Mr. Matip said, adding that it is only then that an exploitation contract could be signed between the extracting firm and the government of Cameroon.
Over 1,800 metres of the sampling works have already been executed and officials of the Ministry said, government, through control teams from the Ministry as well as the South Regional Delegation of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, ensures the control of the project.
SINOSTEEL Corporation is a central enterprise under the administration of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. It is mainly engaged in developing and processing of metallurgical mineral resources, trading and logistics of metallurgical raw materials and products, and related engineering technical service and equipment manufacture.
Source: AllAfrica.com
Friday, June 19, 2009
Geovic's Cameroon Project Delayed To 2012
Production at Geovic Mining Corp.'s cobalt-nickel-manganese project in Cameroon is now set for 2012 after a delay due to the global financial crisis, the company said.
The firm's Nkamouna project, originally due to start operations in 2010, was delayed and investment scaled back because of weak metals prices and the difficulty of raising funds.
"It is just a delay. In fact, all is now set for production to start in 2012, although I cannot give you an exact date yet," said Richard Howe, managing director of Geovic Cameroon, Geovic's 60 percent owned subsidiary.
Howe told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that Toronto-listed Geovic and Cameroonian shareholders had come up with the funds needed to keep work on track.
Geovic has said it expected to produce 4,200 tonnes of cobalt and 2,100 tonnes of nickel annually for at least 21 years from deposits which it estimates at reaching at least 54 million tonnes of ore.
This would make Geovic one of the world's biggest producers of cobalt, a hard and durable metal used in aircraft engines and increasingly in batteries for hybrid cars.
Prices of cobalt have crashed to $14.50 per lb from last year's highs of over $52 per lb, but Geovic has said the project in Cameroon would be profitable even at $8 per lb.
"Currently, Geovic is performing bench and pilot-scale tests aimed at increasing cobalt yields, reducing capital and operating costs, and lowering overall process risks," Howe said.
Howe said the project was expected to contribute more than $250 million a year to Cameroon's gross domestic product.
Source: Moneybiz
The firm's Nkamouna project, originally due to start operations in 2010, was delayed and investment scaled back because of weak metals prices and the difficulty of raising funds.
"It is just a delay. In fact, all is now set for production to start in 2012, although I cannot give you an exact date yet," said Richard Howe, managing director of Geovic Cameroon, Geovic's 60 percent owned subsidiary.
Howe told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that Toronto-listed Geovic and Cameroonian shareholders had come up with the funds needed to keep work on track.
Geovic has said it expected to produce 4,200 tonnes of cobalt and 2,100 tonnes of nickel annually for at least 21 years from deposits which it estimates at reaching at least 54 million tonnes of ore.
This would make Geovic one of the world's biggest producers of cobalt, a hard and durable metal used in aircraft engines and increasingly in batteries for hybrid cars.
Prices of cobalt have crashed to $14.50 per lb from last year's highs of over $52 per lb, but Geovic has said the project in Cameroon would be profitable even at $8 per lb.
"Currently, Geovic is performing bench and pilot-scale tests aimed at increasing cobalt yields, reducing capital and operating costs, and lowering overall process risks," Howe said.
Howe said the project was expected to contribute more than $250 million a year to Cameroon's gross domestic product.
Source: Moneybiz
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Geovic To Press Ahead With Cameroon Project
Geovic Mining Corp. is determined to press ahead with its cobalt-nickel-manganese project in Cameroon, despite delays linked to the global financial crisis, the company's CEO said.
The Toronto-listed company owns 60 percent of Geovic Cameroon (GeoCam) which was granted a mining permit in 2003 for Nkamouna, one of the world's largest primary cobalt-nickel-manganese deposits.
"The crisis has adversely affected mining projects around the world, but we came here to assure the prime minister of our determination to proceeed with our project in the country," John Sherborne, Geovic's chief executive officer, told reporters.
Sherborne was speaking late on Friday after meeting Cameroon's Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni.
"Frankly, a lot of mining projects in the world have been slowed down almost completely now and we thought it was important to assure him that that is not the case with us."
The project, seen by the central Africa country as a key element in its bid to develop the mining industry, is dependent on financing from U.S. banks which are increasingly reluctant to lend money as the international financial crisis deepens.
Construction was due to begin this year with mining starting in 2010, but Geovic Cameroon told Reuters last month the project would be delayed by at least a year.
Geovic expects to produce 4,200 tonnes of cobalt and 2,100 tonnes of nickel annually for at least 21 years from the deposits which it estimates at 52 million tonnes of ore.
This would make Geovic one of the world's biggest producers of cobalt, a hard and durable metal used in aircraft engines and increasingly in batteries for hybrid cars.
Source: Reuters
The Toronto-listed company owns 60 percent of Geovic Cameroon (GeoCam) which was granted a mining permit in 2003 for Nkamouna, one of the world's largest primary cobalt-nickel-manganese deposits.
"The crisis has adversely affected mining projects around the world, but we came here to assure the prime minister of our determination to proceeed with our project in the country," John Sherborne, Geovic's chief executive officer, told reporters.
Sherborne was speaking late on Friday after meeting Cameroon's Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni.
"Frankly, a lot of mining projects in the world have been slowed down almost completely now and we thought it was important to assure him that that is not the case with us."
The project, seen by the central Africa country as a key element in its bid to develop the mining industry, is dependent on financing from U.S. banks which are increasingly reluctant to lend money as the international financial crisis deepens.
Construction was due to begin this year with mining starting in 2010, but Geovic Cameroon told Reuters last month the project would be delayed by at least a year.
Geovic expects to produce 4,200 tonnes of cobalt and 2,100 tonnes of nickel annually for at least 21 years from the deposits which it estimates at 52 million tonnes of ore.
This would make Geovic one of the world's biggest producers of cobalt, a hard and durable metal used in aircraft engines and increasingly in batteries for hybrid cars.
Source: Reuters
Monday, March 23, 2009
Geovic Delays Cameroon Cobalt Project
Geovic Mining Corp. will slash costs, reduce in scale and delay by at least a year its cobalt-nickel-manganese project in Cameroon as a result of the financial crisis, a company official told Reuters on Friday.
The firm's Nkamouna project, a key element in Cameroon's drive to attract $10 billion in investment into its nascent mining sector, is dependent on financing from U.S. banks which are increasingly reluctant to lend money.
"Everything has been delayed by the financial crisis," said Eduouard Edmond Bateky, deputy managing director of Geovic Cameroon, Geovic's 60 percent owned subsidiary.
"The problem is that the main financial sponsors are U.S. banks. We will now have to have something more simple, with less added value here," Bateky told Reuters.
Bateky estimated that investment in the project would be scaled back to $250-300 million, down from an original cost of $400 million that was reduced to $370 million.
"Provided everything clears, we are looking at one year's delay ... The project is still profitable. The economies are still robust but not as profitable as it was supposed to be."
A second feasibility study is needed for the project and the firm will cut in-country processing, he said.
Construction was due to begin this year with mining starting in 2010. Geovic expects to produce 4,200 tonnes of cobalt and 2,100 tonnes of nickel annually for at least 21 years from the deposits which it estimates at 52 million tonnes of ore.
This would make Geovic the one of the world's biggest producers of cobalt, a hard and durable metal used in aircraft engines and increasingly in batteries for hybrid cars.
The project originally intended a chemical treatment plant in Cameroon but Geovic is revising its plans, with the new feasibility study due to be completed by July or August.
Although the Nkamouna site in eastern Cameroon is also rich in nickel and manganese, Bateky said it was cobalt-driven.
Prices of high-tech metal cobalt have crashed to around $15 per lb from last year's highs of over $50 per lb, and the outlook for demand is bleak.
The project is profitable at $8 per lb but "at $12 we still have some room", Bateky said.
Cameroon, long a major oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea, has seen its oil revenues fall in recent years. Current production levels are around 90,000 barrels per day.
The Nkamouna project is central to Cameroon's IMF-backed plans to boost non-oil revenues in a country that analysts say is not realising its vast economic potential.
Last year Cameroon said that it hoped to attract some $10 billion in mining investments in the coming years, but the Nkamouna project has joined a list of other mining developments curbed by the financial crisis.
Source: Reuters
The firm's Nkamouna project, a key element in Cameroon's drive to attract $10 billion in investment into its nascent mining sector, is dependent on financing from U.S. banks which are increasingly reluctant to lend money.
"Everything has been delayed by the financial crisis," said Eduouard Edmond Bateky, deputy managing director of Geovic Cameroon, Geovic's 60 percent owned subsidiary.
"The problem is that the main financial sponsors are U.S. banks. We will now have to have something more simple, with less added value here," Bateky told Reuters.
Bateky estimated that investment in the project would be scaled back to $250-300 million, down from an original cost of $400 million that was reduced to $370 million.
"Provided everything clears, we are looking at one year's delay ... The project is still profitable. The economies are still robust but not as profitable as it was supposed to be."
A second feasibility study is needed for the project and the firm will cut in-country processing, he said.
Construction was due to begin this year with mining starting in 2010. Geovic expects to produce 4,200 tonnes of cobalt and 2,100 tonnes of nickel annually for at least 21 years from the deposits which it estimates at 52 million tonnes of ore.
This would make Geovic the one of the world's biggest producers of cobalt, a hard and durable metal used in aircraft engines and increasingly in batteries for hybrid cars.
The project originally intended a chemical treatment plant in Cameroon but Geovic is revising its plans, with the new feasibility study due to be completed by July or August.
Although the Nkamouna site in eastern Cameroon is also rich in nickel and manganese, Bateky said it was cobalt-driven.
Prices of high-tech metal cobalt have crashed to around $15 per lb from last year's highs of over $50 per lb, and the outlook for demand is bleak.
The project is profitable at $8 per lb but "at $12 we still have some room", Bateky said.
Cameroon, long a major oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea, has seen its oil revenues fall in recent years. Current production levels are around 90,000 barrels per day.
The Nkamouna project is central to Cameroon's IMF-backed plans to boost non-oil revenues in a country that analysts say is not realising its vast economic potential.
Last year Cameroon said that it hoped to attract some $10 billion in mining investments in the coming years, but the Nkamouna project has joined a list of other mining developments curbed by the financial crisis.
Source: Reuters
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sundance Targets 100m DSO Iron Ore In Congo
Sundance Resources has reported encouraging results from the high-resolution airborne geophysical survey recently completed over its consolidated iron ore exploration portfolio in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.
These results are supported by historical drilling data recently obtained by the Company which indicates potential DSO quality mineralisation on the Mt Nabeba Prospect in the Republic of Congo. The airborne geophysical surveys were over selected areas of Exploration Permits 2007-362 and 2007-363 in the Republic of Congo.
Preliminary field mapping indicates the presence of supergene iron mineralisation. The survey data has also confirmed the presence of a significant magnetic response over the Mt Nabeba Prospect, previously identified in exploration undertaken by Congo's Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) in 1986. A 15km linear magnetic anomaly has also been delineated in the Mt Letioukbala locality, to the south of Mt Nabeba.
Both areas have been identified as priority exploration targets. The assessment of the Mt Nabeba Prospect identified the presence of high grade iron mineralisation with iron rich weathered material overlying supergene iron mineralisation. This shows potential outcrop over two areas of the prospect with a strike length of around 2 - 3 km.
The Company has assigned an Exploration Target of 25 to 100 million tonnes of DSO quality mineralisation with a grade range of 60% to 65% Fe at the Mt Nabeba Prospect based on the results reported by the survey.
Sundance’s Managing Director, Don Lewis, said: “These recent results reinforce the scale of prospectivity of the Company’s large landholding in the Republic of Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, highlighting the potential to expand our resource inventory with ongoing exploration.” “While this is early-stage exploration, high-resolution airborne surveys do provide a cost effective means for reconnaissance exploration over our large permit areas,” Mr Lewis said.
“The geophysical survey has generated multiple targets with magnetic signatures similar in scale to the Mbarga Deposit at Mbalam, where we have reported JORC-Code compliant Inferred Resources totalling 2.45 billion tonnes of itabirite and DSO quality hematite over a drilled area of just 10km2,” he said.
Source: Proactive Investors
These results are supported by historical drilling data recently obtained by the Company which indicates potential DSO quality mineralisation on the Mt Nabeba Prospect in the Republic of Congo. The airborne geophysical surveys were over selected areas of Exploration Permits 2007-362 and 2007-363 in the Republic of Congo.
Preliminary field mapping indicates the presence of supergene iron mineralisation. The survey data has also confirmed the presence of a significant magnetic response over the Mt Nabeba Prospect, previously identified in exploration undertaken by Congo's Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) in 1986. A 15km linear magnetic anomaly has also been delineated in the Mt Letioukbala locality, to the south of Mt Nabeba.
Both areas have been identified as priority exploration targets. The assessment of the Mt Nabeba Prospect identified the presence of high grade iron mineralisation with iron rich weathered material overlying supergene iron mineralisation. This shows potential outcrop over two areas of the prospect with a strike length of around 2 - 3 km.
The Company has assigned an Exploration Target of 25 to 100 million tonnes of DSO quality mineralisation with a grade range of 60% to 65% Fe at the Mt Nabeba Prospect based on the results reported by the survey.
Sundance’s Managing Director, Don Lewis, said: “These recent results reinforce the scale of prospectivity of the Company’s large landholding in the Republic of Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, highlighting the potential to expand our resource inventory with ongoing exploration.” “While this is early-stage exploration, high-resolution airborne surveys do provide a cost effective means for reconnaissance exploration over our large permit areas,” Mr Lewis said.
“The geophysical survey has generated multiple targets with magnetic signatures similar in scale to the Mbarga Deposit at Mbalam, where we have reported JORC-Code compliant Inferred Resources totalling 2.45 billion tonnes of itabirite and DSO quality hematite over a drilled area of just 10km2,” he said.
Source: Proactive Investors
Monday, January 19, 2009
Encouraging Results From African Aura Iron Ore Prospect
Mineral exploration company African Aura Resources Ltd has received encouraging results from the Nkout iron ore prospect on its 1,000 square kilometre Djoum licence in southern Cameroon.
A total of 44 samples returned a maximum grade of 65 percent iron, and an average grade of 54 percent.
The Djoum licence is held by the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Caminex SARL. African Aura considers that the dimensions of Nkout and the surrounding hills represent a potentially economic iron deposit. The region around Djoum hosts a number of significant iron deposits including the 2.4 billion tonnes Mbalam deposit approximately 150 kilometres to the south east.
Said John Gray, chief executive officer of African Aura: “Nkout is strategically well located within a recognised iron ore province, close to existing infrastructure and lies between the 2.4 billion tonnes Mbalam iron deposit to the south east, and the site of a proposed deep water port at Kribi on the Atlantic coast.“
A total of 44 samples returned a maximum grade of 65 percent iron, and an average grade of 54 percent.
The Djoum licence is held by the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Caminex SARL. African Aura considers that the dimensions of Nkout and the surrounding hills represent a potentially economic iron deposit. The region around Djoum hosts a number of significant iron deposits including the 2.4 billion tonnes Mbalam deposit approximately 150 kilometres to the south east.
Said John Gray, chief executive officer of African Aura: “Nkout is strategically well located within a recognised iron ore province, close to existing infrastructure and lies between the 2.4 billion tonnes Mbalam iron deposit to the south east, and the site of a proposed deep water port at Kribi on the Atlantic coast.“
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