Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (21130)	6/10/2008 9:39:40 AM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 193686

New Finnish nickel entrant eyeing Nordic platinum possibilities miningweekly.com By: Martin Creamer Published on 6th June 2008 London-listed Nordic miner Talvivaara plc, which plans to produce its first nickel metal in October using bioheapleaching, is also targeting platinum group metals (PGMs) production. Talvivaara CEO Pekka Perä tells Mining Weekly Online that PGMs are known to be present in the region's geology. Significantly Ed Haslam, well known in South Africa as the former CEO of the world's third-largest PGMs producer Lonmin, chairs Talvivaara. Perä says that the region's PGM geology is "very similar" to that of Arctic Platinum, where South Africa's Gold Fields explored and where Perä was also previously active. "That geology is very similar to what we have here," he says, adding that both are palladium dominant with palladium being four times more prevalent than platinum. On the future direction of the company, Perä says Talvivaara plc has no ambition to remain a single-operation company in the next five years. "Either we won't exist, or we'll have several operations," he says. He describes Finland as having "a lot of opportunities". He does not envisage the company diversifying beyond base metals and PGMs. He describes base metals and PGMs as "an interesting mix". The company's metals plant, still being constructed, is able to treat polymetallic concentrate using the bioheapleaching methods, which is a natural process that is merely accelerated and amplified. "We have a lot of free iron in the solution and we can treat all types of arsenic compounds," he says. The plant is "easily expandable" and accommodates "all kinds of base metals and even PGMs", which means there is a wide range of possibilities for the company. Talvivaara extracts nickel from one of the largest known sulphide nickel deposits in Europe and recovers zinc, copper and cobalt along the way, current cobalt prices alone paying for a large slice of costs. It hopes also to reover manganese. The process is achieving 96%-98% recovery using naturally occurring bacteria to catalyse the leaching of the metals from ore to solution. Leaching is accelerated by crushing the ore to increase surface area and bacteria are fed with nutrients to improve productivity. Irrigation and aeration are the only additional processes, substantially lowering capital expenditure and operating expenditure than in traditional smelting and refining processes. The cleaner and more environmentally friendly process compared to smelting by-pass process stage is already widely used for copper and gold. The mine has large open pits and minimal overburden. The area had been explored since the 1970s, with detailed exploration by Geological Survey of Finland between 1977 and 1983. Talvivaara will begin producing nickel metal "by noon on October 1", says Perä. The company is fully funded to complete the project that will have a capacity to produce 33 000 t of nickel a year, 60 000 t of zinc, 10 000 t of copper and 1 200 t of cobalt. It anticipates employing 400 people aims to supply 2,3% of world annual nickel production by 2010.