| Tue 14 Jul 2009, 16:00 | | PAM - Palabora Mining Company Limited - Second Quarter 2009 - Operations |
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PAM
PAM
PAM - Palabora Mining Company Limited - Second Quarter 2009 - 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 2009 - OPERATIONS OVERVIEW AND PRODUCTION STATISTICS
2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 1H 1H
2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2008 2009
Palabora mine
Tonnes hoisted 3,026 3,086 3,019 2,966 3,009 5,725 5,975
(`000 tonnes)
Ore treated (`000 3,027 3,096 3,150 2,789 2,940 6,208 5,729
tonnes)
Average ore 0.71 0.66 0.67 0.68 0.68 0.71 0.68
grade: copper (%)
Copper 89.4 56.5 66.7 67.7 76.1 163.3 143.80
concentrates
produced
(`000 tonnes)
Average 29.2 30.3 29.6 30.5 29.9 29.5 30.2
concentrate grade:
copper (%)
Copper in 26.1 17.1 19.7 20.5 22.8 48.2 43.3
concentrates (`000
tonnes)
Palabora
smelter/refinery
New concentrate 72.3 52.5 70.0 72.8 68.0 138.8 140.80
smelted on site
(`000 tonnes)
New copper anodes 22.3 14.9 20.7 20.2 18.9 40.4 39.10
produced
(`000 tonnes)
Refined new copper 21.6 17.0 19.1 21.0 19.5 39.8 40.5
produced
(`000 tonnes)
By-products:
Magnetite 475 562 469 772 617 921 1,389
concentrate (`000
tonnes)
Nickel contained 26 13 19.3 21.4 39.9 68 61.30
(tonnes)
Copper sold as 3.2 1 4.5 0 9.1 5 9.1
concentrate (`000
tonnes)
Vermiculite plant
Vermiculite 50 50 49 52 46 100 98.0
produced (`000
tonnes)
Palabora, 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 33,066 tonnes for the
quarter. The production during the quarter was slightly above the previous
quarter`s tonnes and consistent with the previous quarter`s grade. In total,
3,008,982 tonnes of ore were hoisted during the quarter with a copper grade of
0.68%, which is consistent with that of the previous quarter`s grade.
Ore treated was 5,4% higher compared with the previous quarter and 2,9% lower
than the corresponding period in 2008. The reduction is mainly attributed to
the absence of 76,2 kt of surface oxide material.
Copper concentrate production improved by 12.4% sequentially, but 14.8% lower
year on year. This was mainly due to the reduction in the milled throughput.
The quarterly increase is attributable to a combination of the reclaiming and
transferring of 12,628 tonnes of low grade concentrate from the pond inventory
to sale.
Copper in concentrate was 11,2% higher than the previous quarter and 12,6%
lower than the corresponding period in 2008, mainly due to the sale of 3,193
tonnes of copper in concentrate from the concentrate ponds.
The new concentrate smelted was mainly in line with concentrate supplied.
Converter reliability and acid plant performance affected smelting during the
first part of the second quarter. The planned shutdown of the waste heat-
boiler, reverb and acid plant has been postponed until the third quarter of
2009.
Refined copper production was in line with anode supply from the smelter. The
tank house efficiencies were negatively affected by the lower copper tenor in
electrolyte.
The nickel plant production has steadily increased as the plant has been
optimised to achieve design capacity. The second quarter was negatively
affected by the failure of the heat exchanger on the crystalliser circuit and
the reduction of the feed to the plant in order to regain copper tenor in the
tank house.
Magnetite
Magnetite production for the quarter was 20% lower than the first quarter and
30% higher year on year as a result of the commissioning of stockpile reclaims
operation and improved magnetite recoveries. The reduction is maninly
attributed to the reduced current arising feed to the magnetite plant due to
processing of smelter secondaries blended with sulphide ore for higher copper
output.
Vermiculite Operations
Vermiculite production for the quarter was negatively affected by a planned 7
day shutdown of the entire plant, resulting in 10% lower output compared to
last quarter and 6% lower than the corresponding period in 2008.
The above information has not been reviewed or reported on by the Company`s
auditors.
Phalaborwa
14 July 2009
Sponsor:
Barnard Jacobs Mellet Corporate Finance (Proprietary) Limited
Date: 14/07/2009 16:00:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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