CL:
An update on NCMI from Reuter. Looks like good news for them.
Bob T.
<<WINDHOEK, March 18 (Reuter) - Plans for one of the world's
largest cathode copper mines in southern Namibia are on course
and production could begin as soon as 1999, an official for
Australia's Great Fitzroy Mines NL GFY.AX said on Tuesday.
Great Fitzroy's representative in Namibia, Viv
Stuart-Williams, told Reuters the results of a feasibility study
had been positive.
"Currently the feeling is that the detailed costing and the
detailed design will be finished in July or August. So, we're
looking for a realistic decision by that time, and then at least
another 18 months beyond that until the start of production,"
Stuart-Williams said.
The Haib project is a joint venture between Great Fitzroy,
which has a 20 percent share, and Namibian Copper Mines Inc
NCMI.OB which holds 80 percent.
The Haib Copper Project would be the world's seventh largest
cathode copper producer.
Because of favourable infrastructure at the proposed site
such as the nearby South Africa-Namibia highway and readily
available water and power supply, the projected cash cost is
less than $0.50 cents per pound per copper.
Haib has a mineable resource of 303 million tonnes of 0.41
percent copper and 978 million tonnes of heap-leachable ore at
0.19 percent copper.
Planned annual production will be 85,000 tonnes of copper
cathode and the capital cost of the project will be $600
million.
Stuart-Williams said funding and ongoing negotiations with
the Namibian government on water costs, power and the tax
structure were the main outstanding issues.
"Negotiations are going very well and I think the government
has expressed commitment to make the project work," he said.
The project would be the largest foreign investment in
Namibia.
The company would try to raise capital on the London,
Johannesburg and Namibian stock exchanges. Investor interest
depended on the copper market at the time, he said.
In the long term the company expected a significant increase
in demand for copper with substantial growth in the Far East,
especially in China and possibly in countries positioned in the
former Eastern Bloc.
--Johannes Dell, Windhoek office, +264 61 249639
REUTER
Rtr 10:16 03-18-97
Copyright 1997, Reuters News Service>>> |
