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

To: LoneClone who wrote (34234)	3/16/2009 10:11:27 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 193918

Hambledon Mining Looks Forward To A Better 2009 After Encountering More Than Its Share Of Teething Problems in 2008 By Charles Wyatt minesite.com Many investors seem to think that once production has started at a mine all will be plain sailing as ramp up to full capacity proceeds. Nothing could be further from the truth as Nick Bridgen, chief executive of AIM listed Hambledon Mining will confirm. The best advice anyone can give is that which comes from most farmers when they run into a townie spouting about climate change: “With weather you have to expect the unexpected.” In the case of Hambledon the first set back was an accident to the boiler in the process plant which resulted in the death of an employee soon after production started a year ago. A few months later Nick reported that production was still moving towards design capacity, but in June a lower than normal grade of ore was encountered. Towards the end of the month, higher grade material was being treated and the full process circuit was in operation, giving much higher production levels. The clay-like material which reduced the grade was gradually eliminated and production returned to normal by blending the remains with hard rock ore, but some of the ore that was crushed during the affected period was oversized and required more milling. By August things had returned to normal after alterations were made to the crusher, and just when Nick thought everything was on song again there was a delay to commissioning the tailings dam which meant that the mills were shut down for 2 weeks. This chief executive, however, is nothing if not resilient as he had brought the Sekisovskoye mine in Kazakhstan into production against all the odds and made sure of it by living, literally, on top of the mine. By September his patience was rewarded with production up to 2,190 ozs gold and 2,961 ozs silver compared with 1,332 ozs gold and 2,313 ozs silver in August, but recovery was still some way below the level indicated by test work. The quarter to end December still had some problems and these mostly affected the crushing circuit resulting in reduced output and oversized product which combined together to impact the performance of the ball mills. Fortunately a new cone crusher was on the way, but it had been held up at the Chinese side of the border. Never one to be deterred Nick planned to install it in February after the ball mill had been relined. Production for the quarter totalled 4,570 ozs gold and 9,569 ozs silver compared with 5,308 ozs gold and 8,696 ozs silver in the September quarter, but the good news was that once the new crusher was installed it should operate above design capacity and produce ore at the planned 12mm size. This would enable the ball mill also to operate above design capacity and produce a finer grind so production in the March quarter should show some improvement. It also has to be remembered that the winter around Sekisovskoye is pretty severe, lasting from mid-October to the beginning of April and this is bound to have an impact on operations at the mine. It is therefore a credit to Hambledon that it could announce today that the new secondary cone crusher was installed by the end of last month and the ball mill relined. The work took longer than the week that was expected but the mills should now be able to operate at higher tonnages as crushed ore is now being produced at above design rate. The plant should now be more resilient in the face of severe weather conditions. The expectation has to be that this first quarter of 2009 will be a bit of a disappointment, but things should definitely pick up in the June quarter. The weather should be better, the crushing circuit and ball mills working well and production should start to advance. It will then be time, as Nick Bridgen points out, to work on improving the rate of recovery up to the expected 92 per cent and in the meantime there is a team from Falcon working on the concentrator. As far as finances are concerned the company is in a good position as it is now generating cash flow and has agreed a one year working capital revolving credit facility for US$3 million, most of which will not be drawn down. With luck the teething troubles are now at an end.