| Tue 17 Jul 2007, 16:30 | | PAM - Palabora Mining Company Limited - Second qua |
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PAM
PAM
PAM - Palabora Mining Company Limited - Second quarter 2007 - Operations
overview and production statistics
PALABORA MINING COMPANY LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
Registration number - 1956/002134/06
JSE Code: PAM ISIN: ZAE000005245
("Palabora" or "the Company")
SECOND QUARTER 2007 - OPERATIONS OVERVIEW AND PRODUCTION STATISTICS
2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 1H 1H
2006 2006 2006 2007 2007 2006 2007
Palabora mine
Tonnes hoisted (`000 2,672 2,771 2,832 2,917 3,065 5,415 5,982
tonnes)
Ore treated (`000 2,633 2,668 2,783 2,886 3,025 5,279 5,910
tonnes)
Average ore grade: 0.70 0.72 0.72 0.71 0.70 0.70 0.71
copper (%)
Copper concentrates 43.0 53.4 61.0 82.1 56.0 94.5 138.1
produced
(`000 tonnes)
Average concentrate 30.5 29.4 28.5 27.4 31.5 30.1 29.1
grade:
copper (%)
Copper in 13.1 15.7 17.4 22.5 17.6 28.5 40.2
concentrates (`000
tonnes)
Palabora
smelter/refinery
New concentrate 83.3 87.7 75.5 73.6 74.2 125.3 147.8
smelted on site (`000
tonnes)
New copper anodes 24.0 22.4 22.2 21.2 22.9 34.0 44.0
produced
(`000 tonnes)
Refined new copper 21.9 22.9 22.1 20.8 22.9 36.2 43.7
produced
(`000 tonnes)
By-products:
Magnetite concentrate 296 299 281 262 321 547 582
(`000 tonnes)
Refined nickel 28 25 32 21 164 63 185
sulphate (tonnes)
Copper sold as 6 - 5 9 1 11 10
concentrate (`000
tonnes)
Vermiculite plant
Vermiculite produced 48 52 50 50 50 95 100
(`000 tonnes)
Palabora, a member of the Rio Tinto Group of Companies, situated in the
Ba-Phalaborwa area of Limpopo, operates South Africa`s largest copper mine.
After 40 years of mining from a large, open-pit operation, the ore is now
extracted in an underground operation located immediately below the open
pit. Overall copper production is supplemented by imported copper
concentrates from Zambia.
Daily production from the underground mine averaged 33,686 tonnes. The
production was 4% higher than the previous quarter and 15% higher than
the corresponding period in 2006. The tonnes hoisted for the first half
of 2007 were 10% higher than the corresponding period in 2006. In total,
5,982,847 tonnes of ore were hoisted during the half with a copper grade
of 0.71%. The underground mine achieved the best production month of
1,073,280 tonnes in April 2007 with the record weekly average of 36,811
tonnes in week 25.
The ore treated increased by 12% year on year and by 5% compared with the
first quarter of 2007 in line with improved mine output.
Copper concentrate tonnage was 32% lower in the quarter compared with the
previous quarter due to the transfer of 24,863 tonnes of low-grade stock
from the concentrator to the smelter for sale during the first quarter of
2007. When this low-grade concentrate is adjusted for, the production
during the quarter is only 2% lower than the first quarter of 2007 due to
a 6% increase in concentrate inventory in the copper thickeners.
When adjusted for the low-grade concentrate material mentioned above, the
overall concentrate grade had a relative improvement of 3.4% in the second
quarter of 2007 as compared with the first quarter. This was mainly due to
improved mineralogy and the decrease in overall recovery.
Smelting capacity was affected during the quarter as a result of a planned
regulatory waste heat boiler shutdown. The planned shut was prolonged by 3
days for repairing damaged boiler tubes. First pass recoveries continued to
improve during the period. Refined copper produced followed smelter
performance.
Magnetite
The magnetite production has been in line with an increase in sales volumes
for both coal washery and export grades, however, rail logistical capacity
to both ports of Richards Bay and Maputo continued to be watched closely to
ensure rail availability for exporting magnetite.
Vermiculite Operations
Vermiculite production in the second quarter was 4% above the corresponding
quarter for 2006. The main contributing factor for higher production is
the increase in recovery of the finer material. Along with this, the
quality of superfine and micron grade continued to improve. Overall plant
recovery for the quarter was 67% which was slightly lower than the previous
quarter but in line with expectations.
Phalaborwa
17 July 2007
Sponsor:
Barnard Jacobs Mellet Corporate Finance (Pty) Limited
Date: 17/07/2007 16:30:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
