Zijin Expects Congo Deal To Go Through

Approval for Platmin Deal Expected In Weeks

China’s largest gold producer, Zijin Mining Group Co., has said that it expects the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and China to approve its joint $284 million bid to buy copper mine developer Platmin Congo.

Zijin is looking to buy Platmin Congo along with the state-backed China-Africa Development Fund. Platmin has stakes in two copper-cobalt projects.

Vice Chairman Lan Fusheng told reporters in Shanghai that China is expected to nod through the deal next month although agreement from the Congo government is expected to take a little longer. The deal will go through once a “misunderstanding” is resolved.

“I believe this will eventually receive approval from the Congo government because the project needs investment,” Mr Lan said.

Alexis Mikandji Penge, Chief of Staff to Congo’s Ministry of Mining, pointed to a decision by the Congolese government last August which prohibits a partner in a joint mining venture in Congo to change the partnership or transfer shares before the project begins commercial production. It is believed that the country’s Minister of Mines, Martin Kabwelulu apparently learned of the proposed deal over the internet.

The state-owned mining company, Gecamines, has a 32 per cent stake in Platmin’s projects, Deziwa and Ecaille C. Zijin will own 60 per cent of the venture controlling Platmin with the China-Africa Development Fund holding the remaining 40 per cent. The $1 billion fund aims to support Chinese companies investing in Africa. It is believed that the fund initially got involved in the project and sought investment from Zijin to take over the development.

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Jinchuan Makes Offer For Canada's Crowflight

Chinese Mining Giant In $150m Cash Bid

China’s Jinchuan Group has made a $150 million cash offer for Canadian nickel producer Crowflight Minerals.

Crowflight Minerals recently restarted production at the Bucko Lake Nickel Mine in Manitoba, and has a number of platinum group metals, nickel and copper projects in the Sudbury Basin and Thompson Nickel Belt in Ontario.

Jinchuan is become a global mining giant that controls mining, processing, refining and other metal processing and manufacturing lines. It production of nickel ranks fourth in the world; its production of cobalt ranks second in the world; and its mining and processing technology ranks third in the world.

Jinchuan has made a partly-diluted offer of 22 cents per share. By 3.30pm local time on Tuesday Crowflight Shares stood at 21.5 cents, a rise of 26.5%.

Proto Puts Forward Case For Barnes Hill Nickel Mine

Sydney-based Proto Resources has released the results of soil tests from 112 holes at a site at Barnes Hill, in bushland behind Beaconsfield, northern Tasmania.


Intersections have continued to build the strength of the database with 14 intersections at 1% Ni or greater (using a 0.5% Ni and 2m minimum intercept and maximum 3m internal dilution as cut-offs).

A 12.1 million tonne JORC-compliant indicated resource at 0.83% nickel and 0.07% cobalt is currently defined at the site. The drilling also uncovered the iron ore potential of the project, which would seem commercial grade in line with other small-scale operations in Tasmania close to the BHP Temco smelter.

However, conservationists have raised objections to the plan. The local Conservation Trust has raised concerns that the mine would wipe out an endangered flowering shrub known as Shy Susan. Proto Resources says it is developing an Environmental Management Plan, which will be submitted to the Environment Protection Agency and the Federal Government soon.

Jinchuan May List Cobalt Units

The chairman of Jinchuan Group, Yang Zhiqiang, has said that his company may list its cobalt units on the Shanghai bourse. However, Mr Yang ruled out listing his company’s nickel assets. Jinchuan is Asia’s largest nickel producer.


“We may finish preparatory work within the year”, he said, adding that the company is looking for underwriters.

The company plans to start nickel exploration in Tanzania in the first half of this year and will invest with Canadian company,Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corp., to develop nickel assets in the north west of the country.

Mr Yang denied reports that Jinchuan will build a nickel/copper project in China’s Guangxi province.

Macquaries Predicts Cobalt Surplus

Macquarie Commodities Research is forecasting a medium term for cobalt, in its latest report.

Analysts at the investment bank are predicting that a 10 % increase in supply will outstrip a 9% growth in demand over the next couple of years and that the price will drop from $22.50/lb this year to $20/lb next year and $15 in 2012 thanks to expanded output from Australia, Canada and Africa.

Growth is likely to be underpinned by the automotive battery sector which accounts for about a quarter of demand; however the bank also points out that with cobalt being a secondary product from copper or nickel mines demand has remained insensitive to price.

Macquarie also points to volatility in the price of cobalt, especially as the London Metal Exchange recently launched a cobalt futures contract and contracts exchanged on the market are more likely to be sensitive to market developments.

ENRC In $300 Million Zambian Takeover

Kazakh miner ENRC has paid $300 million to buy Dutch company Enya Holdings. Enya has a 9-% stake in the Chambishi copper and cobalt processing plant in Zambia. ENRC said in a statement on Thursday it hoped to cut costs by using the Chambishi plant in Zambia to process copper and cobalt produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo from a mine which the company bought last year.

The deal is being financed entirely from the company’s own cash resources.

"The acquisition of Chambishi accelerates the group's expansion in copper and cobalt and at a lower cost than would be required for new investment," said Mehmet Dalman, independent non-executive director. "The integrated copper and cobalt mining and smelting businesses of Chambishi and those in the DRC, when combined, should have an improved cost position over time."

ENRC plans to invest $80 million in Chambishi by 2011 to upgrade its facilities, which will boost annual capacity to 55,000 tonnes of copper cathode, more than twice its current level of 25,000 tonnes. The combined operation is expected to produce 130,000 tonnes of copper cathode a year and 12,000 tonnes of cobalt-contained metal salts and concentrates by 2012. The company said that building Chambishi’s facilities from scratch would take at least three years and would have cost more than it is paying for Enya.

Enya also owns 100% of Comit Resources FZE, a Dubai-based marketing and sales company that handles Chambishi's copper and cobalt sales.

Last September, ENRC bought Central African Mining and Exploration in a $955 million cash deal which diversified the firm into metals such as copper and into high-risk areas of Africa.

DRC Block Mining Exports of 16 Companies

Officials in Katanga province in the Democratic Republic Of Congo have informed Retuers that they are carrying out a promise to block the exports of miners who are deemed not to have backed local agricultural projects.

Sixteen companies are said to have been banned, among them Kamoto Copper Company, a joint venture between TSE-listed Katanga Mining and the DRC government which runs the Kamoto copper and cobalt project near the town of Kolwezi.

Geovic COnfident On Financing Cameroon Cobalt Mine

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

Chambishi Delays Cobalt Production

Zambia's largest cobalt producer, Chambishi Metals will delay its ramp-up to full output until cobalt prices rise to $22 per pound from the current $18 per pound, the firm said on Wednesday.

Chambishi, which is owned by Enya Holdings of the United Kingdom, had forecast output at 3,400 tonnes of cobalt in 2009 from 2,500 tonnes in 2008 before it suspended operations, which were restarted this month.

Chief Executive Officer, Derek Webbstock said although suppliers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had delivered cobalt concentrates, the processing plant would restrict operations to the leaching unit until prices ticked up.

"We will only restart the furnace where we can produce ferro-alloys from slag once the prices reach the previous levels of $22 per pound," Webbstock told Reuters.

"If I can get material of a higher grade then I can restart the furnace because the output depends on the quality of the material. We are presently not getting any raw materials for the furnace from the DRC," Webbstock said.

Operations at Chambishi were suspended last December and placed on care and maintenance due to losses the company suffered after metal prices fell and costs rose owing to the global economic slowdown.

Webbstock could not state the current output, saying he needed to reconcile the figures in the first week of December.

Webbstock said Chambishi would not use the local raw materials from the Nkana slag dump, 359 km north-west of Lusaka at the current price because the slag was of low grade.

"We are producing the current cobalt from the leaching circuit. It is cheaper for us because we are not using electricity. The furnace remains an opportunity for the future," Webbstock said.

Chambishi would start processing copper concentrates after China Nonferrous Metals Mining Corporation (CNMC) unit, Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM) restarted output, Webbstock said.

Chambishi had forecast B-grade copper output of 20,000 tonnes in 2009.

Chambishi was previously owned by LCM, a joint venture of Bein Stein Group Resources (BSGR) and International Mineral Resources (IMR).

Source: Reuters

Chambishi Metals Resumes Operations

Zambia's largest cobalt smelter, Chambishi Metals PLC, has started to receive concentrate supplies from Congo's Katanga province, allowing it to resume operations after nearly 12 months of inactivity, an official with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

"The smelter resumed operations on Friday and they have already started producing cobalt," the ZCCM-IH official said by telephone from Lusaka, the Zambian capital. Chambishi Metals is operated by U.K.-based Enya Holdings, while ZCCM-IH holds a minority stake in the smelter.

The plant, which was closed in December last year due to plunging global metals prices, had initially been expected to resume output in May, but delayed supplies of concentrates hampered the start-up.

In addition from getting supplies from Congo, Chambishi also expected to process copper concentrates from Baluba Copper Mines, now owned by NFCA Mining, a unit of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group Co. (8306.HK). Chambishi Metals has the capacity to produce 4,000 tons of cobalt and 40,000 tons of copper a year.

Baluba is expected to start supplying the plant early next year. However, management of the plant has rejected supplies from other Zambian mines, saying they would be expensive to process because of their low grades.

Analysts say the delayed resumption of output has led to a global cobalt shortage, aiding cobalt prices on the international market.

According to Sikufela Mundia, the president of Zambia's National Union of Miners and Allied Workers Union, management has also started recruiting workers but is yet to sign a recognition deal with the unions.

Chambsihi laid off around 700 workers when it closed in December, while in total some 10,000 Zambian miners were laid off after global copper prices slumped last year. Around 2,000 miners have since been rehired as a result of a resurgent market.

Zambia is Africa's largest copper producer and the second-leading cobalt producer after Congo

Source: Trading Markets/Dow Jones

Congo Holds Key To Freeport Project

The massive copper and cobalt mine Tenke Fungurume is more than 9,000 miles from Arizona, but key decisions about the new operation's future in central Africa are being made in Phoenix.

Tenke is operated and majority-owned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., which runs its $17.8 billion-a-year global enterprise from its headquarters in a downtown office high-rise at 1 N. Central Ave.

The mine is located in the economically unstable Democratic Republic of Congo, making it a risky venture for the world's largest publicly traded copper company.
The country is rife with political and social unrest, and transportation routes for hauling equipment and minerals to and from the $2 billion project are scarce. A review of mining contracts by the African government also threatens Freeport's ownership stake.

But the potential payoffs are huge.

Freeport executives and mining analysts say Tenke possesses the largest copper-ore reserve in the world.

While the global economic crisis temporarily squelched demand for copper and drove down the price of the metal last year, demand is expected to explode as countries such as China and India expand and worldwide supply remains constrained.

"Tenke Fungurume is one of the most attractive new copper projects in the world over the last two decades," Peter Ward, a stock analyst with Barclays Capital in New York, wrote in an October report on Freeport.

Ward, who recently toured the mine, estimates future demand for the metal will be strong enough to support 35 additional copper mines the size of Tenke.

Freeport began shipping copper cathode in March. The mine has produced 90 million pounds of copper and is expected to yield 250 million pounds of copper and 18 million pounds of cobalt annually at full production.

Freeport is well-versed in doing business in unstable regions of the world.

For more than 30 years, it has operated the Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia. The area surrounding Grasberg in the remote, mountainous area of Indonesia's Papua province has been the site of a several violent attacks by political separatists in recent months.

Some experts say Congolese officials' contract review of the Tenke mine could hinder the value of the project.

The DRC, which is financially dependent on mineral exports, launched the review of several mining contracts in 2007 to determine whether they were negotiated fairly. It has completed most of its reviews except for a few, including Freeport's.

Freeport President Richard Adkerson was not available for comment.

In an Oct. 21 conference call with analysts, Adkerson said the company was "working very cooperatively" to address the government's concerns. He said the firm made offers to the government but declined to specify.

Adkerson called the company's current contract, in place since 2005, "very favorable" to the government.

Freeport owns about a 58 percent stake in Tenke. Canadian mining firm Lundin Mining Corp. owns about 25 percent. The DRC owns about 18 percent and is entitled to 2 percent of the royalties and 30 percent of the taxes.

It reportedly is asking to increase its ownership stake to 45 percent, Ward's report said.

It is possible the government could ask Freeport to make a larger social investment in the country, Ward said.

Freeport and Lundin have invested $1.9 billion in the project thus far, including about $180 million in taxes to the government; $30 million for housing, education and other community-development programs; and $20 million for national highway improvements.

Significant contract revisions or a cancellation could scare away investors, hurting the financially burdened country, said Olufemi Babarinde, associate professor of global studies at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale. He studies African business issues.

Gerry Keim, a management professor at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business in Tempe, agreed, adding that the DRC runs the risk of deterring future business investments there.

But he doubts whether that would prevent the government from taking a bigger stake in the project.

"There may be short-term benefits to the government in power if they are able to renegotiate a contract like this and get a bigger slice of the pie," Keim said. "The long-term costs are usually going to be borne by people who are not in power right now."

Freeport said it has no timeline on when a decision will be made.

But news agencies reported that the government gave Freeport several deadlines to reach an agreement. Those deadlines, including two in October, have passed without action.

Source: Arizona Republic

Mambare Exclusivity Extended

Proactive Investor reports that the exclusivity period agreed with Sydney-based Direct Nickel Private Limited in connection with assessing the possible joint development of Regency’s Mambare nickel/cobalt project in Papua New Guinea has been extended indefinitely by mutual agreement.

Regency and DNi signed a non binding MoU in August over developing Mambare and the partners granted each other a period of exclusivity up to October 1st 2009 in which they would not negotiate with or furnish information to any third parties on the project or the MoU.

Since the signing of the MoU, DNi has carried out a due diligence visit to Mambare and teams from the 2 companies have been working closely together to assess new drill data and digitize other data, look at possible outcomes and formulate exploration strategies.

Regency said that this work is regarded as having been productive by both parties and the exclusivity period has been extended indefinitely subject to one month's notice of termination on either side.

It said that “The size and grade potential of Mambare on the one hand and the technological leadership of DNi on the other have become more evident to the parties over the last weeks and it is their intention to continue to work together on the next stages of development. Further announcements will be made in due course.”

The MoU envisages that the partners work towards a proposed transaction which will pool Regency's interest in Mambare with DNi's lateritic nickel/cobalt treatment technology in a new company in which both parties will have shares which will have non exclusive licensing arrangements for the DNi process and which will raise funding for the further development of Mambare including a pilot plant.

DNi would assume the role as project operator in the new company and both parties would be represented on the board and in the management of the new company.

Source: Steel Guru/Proactive Investor

ENRC, CAMEC In Merger Talks

Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. PLC Wednesday said it is in "advanced discussions" to pay 20 pence a share for Central African Mining and Exploration Corp. PLC.
However, ENRC cautioned that a deal hadn't yet been finalized: "Whilst ENRC is engaged in such discussions and is assessing the merits of a potential transaction, there can be no certainty that any such transaction will proceed," the company said in a statement.

London-listed ENRC produces ferrochrome, iron ore and aluminium at operations in Kazakhstan, while CAMEC's main operations are copper and cobalt production in Congo.

Source: Trading Markets

BHP To End Cobalt Spot Sales

BHP Billiton Plc, the world’s largest mining company, plans to stop spot cobalt sales to get “better returns” from an alternative marketing system.

“Once current stocks are exhausted, BHP Billiton does not anticipate being in a position to offer cobalt metal on the spot market in the foreseeable future,” BHP’s London-based spokesman Illtud Harri said in an e-mail. BHP has “alternative arrangements” to sell cobalt, he said, declining to say if that means sales by contract.

The price of cobalt, used in rechargeable batteries and made from nickel production, has climbed 11 percent this year to $19.50 a pound, according to Metal Bulletin.

BHP’s cobalt production at Yabulu, Australia, was 400,000 metric tons in the second quarter compared with 500,000 tons in the same period a year earlier, according to the company’s July 22 production report.

SourcE: Bloomberg

Regency Mines Signs PNG Cobalt Agreement

Regency Mines Plc a mining exploration and mineral investment company, said on Wednesday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) related to its stake in a nickel-cobalt project in Papua New Guinea.

Under the MoU, Regency agreed to pool its interest in the Mambare project with the privately-owned Direct Nickel's (DNi) lateritic nickel/cobalt treatment technology in a new company, in which both parties would have shares.

The new company would raise funding for the further development of Mambare, including a pilot plant, Regency said.

DNi would assume the role as project operator, and both parties would be represented on the board and in the management of the new company, it said.

Source: Reuters

Chambishi To Delay Cobalt Production

Zambia's largest cobalt producer Chambishi Metals Plc will delay restarting production until September after suppliers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) failed to deliver cobalt concentrates, it said on Sunday.

Operations at Chambishi were suspended in December and were due to restart in August, but Chief Executive Officer Derek Webbstock said it would have to wait until mines in the DRC begin to deliver raw materials.

"We are still waiting for the cobalt concentrates. The suppliers we agreed with are having problems and we haven't had any deliveries yet," Webbstock told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Webbstock said Chambishi, which had forecast output of 3,400 tonnes of cobalt in 2009 from 2,500 before it suspended operations last December, would first have to stockpile the cobalt concentrates before starting operations.

The resumption of output had already been pushed back to August from July while Chambishi waited for supplies from the DRC.

"If the suppliers get their problems sorted out quickly we can resume production in two weeks time but it may take longer because we need to stockpile the concentrates first," Webbstock said.

Chambishi, which was previously owned by Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM), a joint venture of Bein Stein Group Resources (BSGR) and International Mineral Resources (IMR), is now owned by Enya Holdings of the United Kingdom.

Source: Reuters

Vale Behind Camec Approach

Camec, which is listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, announced 10 days ago that it had received bid approaches but declined to reveal who was behind them. The interest followed a recent deal struck by the company to supply all the cobalt from its mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Zhejiang Galico, a Chinese cobalt processor, controlled by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Vale recently opened an office in the DRC and has been eyeing Camec's operations for some time, said the insiders.

In particular there was a suggestion that Vale could team up with Xstrata and make a joint bid for Anglo American. However, Vale poured cold water on the idea by saying it would use the cash to fund its own projects.

Insiders said yesterday that Vale was interested in Camec but gave warning that the deal still may not come off.

Other parties are also said to be interested, including the Chinese. Vedanta Resources may be also be interested in Camec's copper. Vale declined to comment. Camec could not be reached.

At the time of the approaches Camec gave warning that they were preliminary approaches that may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company. Camec's shares have soared from 10p to 15½p as a result of the bid speculation.

Camec has operations in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mali, Namibia and Kenya. Mr Edmonds, who was born in what was then Northern Rhodesia, played for England from 1975 and 1987.

He has become well-known as a mining entrepreneur in Africa having also established the White Nile Petroleum Company.

Source: Daily Telegraph

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

Ruashi Mine Achieves Record Copper, Cobalt Production

South Africa-based Metorex’s Ruashi mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has achieved record copper and cobalt production last month, the company said on Monday.

Copper output surged by 21% to 1 847 t and cobalt production by 33% to 214 t in May.

“The Ruashi mine continues to improve throughput and production levels and in May achieved its highest production levels to date,” said CEO Terence Goodlace in a statement.

He reported that significant progress had been made to improve plant throughput. Total mill feed amounted to 81 400 t at a blended grade of 2,61% copper and 0,48% cobalt in May.

Meanwhile, Metorex said that its board had approved $7,4-million to complete the acid plant at the mine.

The company had completed a study on sulphuric acid supply and concluded that a fully operational plant would reduce operational risk and reduce the cost of importing sulphuric acid from the Zambian copperbelt.

Contractors were being mobilised and the outstanding work should be completed in the second quarter of 2010, Metorex reported.

The company said last year that it planned to quadruple copper output by 2011, producing 135 000 t/y.

Commenting on the progress of its drilling programme at Ruashi, Goodlace said that the programme had advanced as planned and that the diamond drilling assays had delivered positive results.

Metorex started an infill drilling diamond programme at Ruashi in April, which would be completed by the end of the month.

By the end of May, 4 829 m of the 5 160 m programme had been completed.

Source: Mining Weekly

Heron To Develop Nickel-Cobalt Project With Chinese Partner

Heron Resources and China's Ningbo Shanshan will jointly develop Heron's Yerilla nickel-cobalt project.

Shanshan will undertake a feasibility study into treating ore from Yerilla using Shanshan technology, to produce a nickel and cobalt concentrate for further processing in China.

As part of the transaction Shanshan would also become a significant shareholder in Heron holding up to 14.99 per cent of the company.

A bulk sample of Yerilla ore has been shipped to test compatibility of the ore with Shanshan’s processing technology.

In case of a positive feasibility outcome, Shanshan may earn a 70 per cent interest in the Yerilla project, in Western Australia, by funding construction and commissioning.

The agreement is subject to Chinese and Australian regulatory approvals, Heron said in a statement today.

Source: The Australian/Dow Jones