| Tue 15 Jan 2008, 16:30 | | PAM - Palabora Mining Company - Fourth Quarter 2007 - Operations Overview And |
|
PAM
PAM
PAM - Palabora Mining Company - Fourth 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")
FOURTH QUARTER 2007 - OPERATIONS OVERVIEW AND PRODUCTION STATISTICS
FULL FULL
4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q YEAR YEAR
2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2006 2007
Palabora mine
Tonnes hoisted 2,832 2,917 3,065 3,041 2,822 11,018 11,846
(`000 tonnes)
Ore treated (`000 2,783 2,886 3,025 3,046 3,958 10,730 12,915
tonnes)
0.72 0.71 0.70 0.68 0.69 0.71 0.70
Average ore grade:
copper (%)
Copper concentrates 61.0 82.1 56.0 48.6 52.5 208.9 239.2
produced
(`000 tonnes)
Average concentrate 28.5 27.4 31.5 31.0 30.7 29.4 29.8
grade:
copper (%)
Copper in 17.4 22.5 17.6 15.0 16.1 61.5 71.4
concentrates (`000
tonnes)
Palabora
smelter/refinery
New concentrate 75.5 73.6 74.2 73.9 74.1 288.5 295.8
smelted on site
(`000 tonnes)
New copper anodes 22.2 21.2 22.9 24.0 22.7 78.6 90.7
produced
(`000 tonnes)
Refined new copper 22.1 20.8 22.9 24.0 24.0 81.2 91.7
produced
(`000 tonnes)
By-products:
Magnetite 281 262 321 361 363 1,127 1,306
concentrate (`000
tonnes)
Nickel contained - - 8 43 45 - 96
(tonnes)
Copper sold as 5 9 1 - 0.7 16 11
concentrate (`000
tonnes)
Vermiculite plant
Vermiculite produced 50 50 50 50 50 198 200
(`000 tonnes)
Palabora Mining Company, a member of the Rio Tinto Group of Companies, situated
in the Ba-Phalaborwa area of Limpopo, operates a large block cave copper mine
and smelter complex.
Daily production from the underground mine averaged 30,674 tonnes for the
quarter. The tonnes hoisted remained at similar levels to those of the
corresponding period in 2006 and 7% lower sequentially.
In total, 2,822,040 tonnes of ore were hoisted during the quarter with a copper
grade of 0.69%. Overall 2007 mine production was 11,845,518, tonnes at 0.70%
grade, representing a 7% increase compared with the total in 2006.
Ore treated in the fourth quarter was 30% higher compared with the third quarter
levels mainly due to processing of additional 1.3 million tonnes of oxide ore.
Overall, ore treated was 20% above 2006 levels due to a combination of improved
mine output, improved automill run time and processing of oxide ore.
Concentrate tonnage was 8% higher in the fourth quarter compared with the third
quarter due to higher milled tonnage. Total concentrate tonnage was 14% higher
in 2007 than 2006 due to reclaimed low grade concentrate in the first quarter of
2007 and higher milled tonnage.
The higher milled tonnage also contributed to the increase of 7% for copper in
concentrate. A combination of higher milled tonnage and reclaiming of low grade
copper from dewatering ponds in the first quarter of 2007 led to an overall
increase of 16% for copper in concentrate in 2007 when compared with 2006.
Anodes production was 2% higher than the corresponding quarter in 2006 and 5%
lower sequentially. Overall annual anodes production was up 15% year on year,
explained in part by operating efficiencies. Refinery production was in line
with Smelter output during the quarter. Overall, total refined copper produced
was 13% higher in 2007 compared with the previous year.
Magnetite
Production for export magnetite during the quarter was steady mainly due to
availability of logistics capacity to the port of Richards Bay. Overall, 2007
production was up 16% year on year, in line with our plans to meet off take
agreements.
Vermiculite Operations
Vermiculite production was in line with that of the previous quarter and the
corresponding quarter for 2006. Overall plant recovery for the fourth quarter
was 66%, a slight improvement on third quarter recovery of 63%.
Phalaborwa
15 January 2008
Sponsor:
Barnard Jacobs Mellet Corporate Finance (Pty) Limited
Date: 15/01/2008 16:30:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the
JSE Limited (`JSE`). The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or
implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or
completeness of the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers,
employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature,
howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.
