Qld miner announces $6.4b rhenium find
April 21, 2009 - 2:39PM
news.theage.com.au
Mining company Ivanhoe Australia says it has found a molybdenum-rhenium deposit that has the potential to be worth as much $6.4 billion at its Merlin project in north-west Queensland.
The company said in a statement there was a mineral resource estimate of 13 million tonnes of the world's highest-grade molybdenum-rhenium deposit.
"It (Merlin) possesses a very high, in-ground metal value that, based on current spot metal prices, is approximately $6.4 billion," the company said.
The deposit is estimated to contain 110,000 tonnes of molybdenum and 180,000 kilograms of rhenium, 30,000 tonnes of copper and two million ounces of silver.
Company chief Peter Reeve said that, at current spot prices, the find was equivalent to a gold deposit of six million ounces at a grade of 14 grams per tonne.
"This is extraordinary. You find these things once every 30 or 40 years," Mr Reeve said.
He said the company hoped to begin producing from the mine in about two years.
Rhenium is produced when molybdenum sulfide is smelted.
The metal is used in aircraft turbines, rocket thrusters and heating elements.
The world's largest producer of Rhenium is Chile, which in 2007 produced 28 tonnes of the metal.
"It (Merlin) has the potential to be the biggest rhenium producer in the world, depending on where we set the plan up to," Mr Reeve said.
He said the molybdenum mined at Merlin would be smelted in Australia.
"We have drilled 900 metres of resource here, and we have got molybdenum sulfide, or rhenium, all the way along that strike length, but we have only declared the resource today of 500 metres of that, so what I am saying is that there is an upgrade to come," Mr Reeve said.
At 1412 AEST shares in Ivanhoe Australia were trading up 35 cents, to $1.80. |
