Australia's nickel capital has a rich life ahead
mineweb.com
In 2000 Kambalda as the nation’s nickel mining heart was unloved and looking at perhaps a decade of life ahead providing the nickel price improved. The pathfinder company that restarted mines on the Kambalda and Widgiemooltha domes has painted a powerful picture for the next 20 years.
Author: Ross Louthean
Posted: Friday , 09 May 2008
PERTH -
The managing director of Mincor Resources NL (ASX: MCR), David Moore, painted a picture at RIUI's Resources Round-Up in Sydney of not only a strong mining performance for the company ahead but also one of great confidence for major new discoveries.
Two other companies that acquired mines from WMC Resources (before it was taken over by BHP Billiton) - Independence Group NL (ASX: IGO) and Sally Malay Mining (ASX: SMY) -- in partnership with Canada's Brilliant Mining -- have also been producing stellar profits and strong production performances.
Moore said that since starting mining, initially on the Miitel mine in 2001 the company has discovered 89,000 tonnes of contained nickel from exploration on five ore systems.
To illustrate this he pointed to the Miitel mine where drilling into the plunging lava flows the company had discovered North Miitel and South Miitel. The perception, Moore said was that these plunging systems have unexplored extension both north and south for 3.2 kilometres at both ends.
"To achieve a further 20 years of production at 20,000 tonnes per annum, Mincor needs to discover 1,060t per ore system per year," he said.
Mincor has been able to find extensions to 12 ore systems in the Kambalda-Widgiemooltha region and was now targeting a whole new ore system on its leases called Strong Ultra-Sized Nickel Ore Body (USNOB) targets. Two of these were an interpreted extension of Independence Group's Long shaft extending into Mincor's ground and a channel-like feature in a basal contact parallel to the deep Otter Juan mine which Mincor acquired recently.
Mincor has had strong profits since 2001, helped by the upward movement of the nickel price from 2002 and it has paid regular dividends since 2001 and today has $A110 million ($US103.4 M) cash and no debt.
The forecast production for 2008 was to achieve between 17-18,000t of contained metal and achieving the 20,000 tpa in 2009. (All Kambalda nickel miners deliver their ore to BHPB's concentrator at Kambalda).
On the Kambalda Dome, Mincor has the Otter Juan and Coronet mines in production, revived mining at both Carnilya Hill and McMahon under construction and a feasibility study on the Durkin mine. On the Widgiemooltha Dome, the operating mines are Miitel, Mariners, Redross and the hard-to-kill Wannaway, the Mariners No 9 project is on "drill out" and the Stockwell prospect was in advanced production. |
