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LionOre may accelerate Nkomati Posted: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 [miningmx.com] -- LIONORE Mining, the nickel mining firm, is considering accelerating its projects following a proposal to buy Falconbridge’s Nikkelverk refinery for $650m. LionOre is also considering entering into pool and share agreements with other nickel mining companies. “There are orebodies that we could target in southern Africa in which we would bring the technology, and the partner would supply the orebody,” said Peter Breese, MD of LionOre Africa in an interview. LionOre confirmed earlier this year it had had meetings with Albidon, a junior mining company digging for nickel in Botswana, about making LionOre’s Activox technology available. “But we wouldn’t pay for orebodies,” said Breese commenting on whether he would consider an acquisition strategy in Africa owing to its greater refining capacity. In terms of the proposed agreement with Falconbridge, LionOre must refine up to 60,000 tons/year of the Canadian firm’s nickel over 10 years from the 80,000 tons/year refinery. However, there’s an option to reduce the amount of matte it takes from Falconbridge enabling it to treat more of its own matte. In terms of its expansion plans, LionOre is hoping to become a 80,000 ton/year nickel producer by 2012. Its production target could be accelerated, however, owing to the flexibility provided by Nikkelverk, said Breese. LionOre owns 85% of Tati Nickel in Botswana, a company that includes the Phoenix open pit mine and Selkirk, an underground mine currently on care and maintenance. It also has a 50% stake in Nkomati Nickel, a 5,000 ton/year producer with potential to lift production to between 20,000 to 25,000 tons/year. “Nkomati Nickel is the best possibility for bringing production on line quicker,” said Breese. “But it’s not a refined process yet.” LionOre has proposed building an interim plant at Nkomati Nickel which could be doubled in size, said Breese. There were also options to develop Selkirk quicker. The R384m ($62m) interim expansion plan at Nkomati Nickel, scheduled for commissioning by end-2007, is intended to provide bridging production before the full R2bn ($298m) expansion, a development that includes installing Activox. “There are medium term benefits to Nkomati from the Falconbridge facility,” said Pieter Rorich, investor relations GM for ARM. “Refining and smelting facilities add R1bn to the expansion of Nkomati Nickel,” he said. LionOre is positioned to leverage its downstream refining expertise. For example, Activox is being examined as an alternative to conventional platinum smelting and refining processes in South Africa’s platinum metals industry. Ridge Mining is to decide at the year-end whether it wants to use Activox technology to smelt and refine potential production from its planned R2bn Sheba’s Ridge project, said Terence Wilkinson, Ridge Mining CEO in an interview. Breese said the company “recognised an opportunity” to treat palladium-rich orebodies mined in South Africa. “Activox is well suited to treating this material,” he said.Free news alerts: click here to subscribe
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