Oriental Minerals to reopen S Korean mine
mining-journal.com
Oriental Minerals Inc, a Canadian mining company, may spend US$500 million reopening a molybdenum and tungsten mine in South Korea to benefit from rising prices for the minerals.
Initial drilling at the Sangdong mine is scheduled to be completed by March 2008, Chris Sennitt, vice president in charge of exploration at the Calgary, Alberta-based company, said on Monday by telephone in Seoul.
The mine, once the world`s largest tungsten mine, produced 600,000 t/y of tungsten between 1947 and 1992, the company said on its website.
Prices of molybdenum, used to strengthen steel and prevent corrosion, have risen 13% in the last six months driven by demand from makers of stainless steel in China.
Tungsten is used to make filaments in light bulbs.
"It is the lowest cost mine project in the world," Oriental Mineral`s Sennitt said. "Prices (of minerals) are good. We`d like to fast track it."
Oriental Minerals, which owns 100% of the mine, plans to complete an initial study into the project by the end of next year, he said.
It`s studying a plan to build a plant in 2009 to process 50,000 t/day of minerals, including tungsten and molybdenum concentrates, he added.
The company has a market value of C$212 million (US$111 million).
The mine, southeast of the capital Seoul, may hold 16 Mt of probable reserves of high-grade molybdenum, Sennitt said.
(May 21 Bloomberg) |
