| Wed 14 Apr 2010, 16:40 | | PAM - Palabora Mining Company - First Quarter 2010 - Operations Overview And |
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PAM
PAM
PAM - Palabora Mining Company - First Quarter 2010 - 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")
FIRST QUARTER 2010 - OPERATIONS OVERVIEW AND PRODUCTION STATISTICS
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q FULL
2009 2009 2009 2009 YEAR
2010 2009
Palabora mine:
Tonnes hoisted (`000 2,966 3,009 2,978 2,585 2,839 11,538
tonnes)
Ore treated (`000 2,789 2,940 2,792 2,809 2,784 11,330
tonnes)
Average ore grade: 0.68 0.68 0.66 0.67 0.66 0.67
copper (%)
Copper concentrates 67.1 76.1 61.8 65.8 61.8 270.8
produced (`000 tonnes)
Average concentrate 30.5 29.9 31.1 30.5 29.8 30.5
grade: copper (%)
Copper in concentrates 20.5 22.7 19.3 20.1 18.4 82.6
(`000 tonnes)
Palabora
smelter/refinery:
New concentrate smelted 72.8 68.0 58.5 67.3 57.7 266.6
on site (`000 tonnes)
New copper anodes 20.2 18.9 12.5 14.3 12.4 65.9
produced (`000 tonnes)
Refined new copper 21.0 19.5 13.8 15.1 12.2 69.4
produced (`000 tonnes)
By-products:
Magnetite concentrate 772 617 758.7 697.2 754.1 2,845
(`000 tonnes)
Nickel contained in 21 33 29 11.4 18.5 94.4
products (tonnes)
Copper sold as 0 2.1 3.9 4.5 2.5 10.5
concentrate (`000
tonnes)
Vermiculite plant:
Vermiculite produced 52 46 48. 50 54 196
(`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 smelter
complex and 241 million tonne magnetite stockpile.
Production from the underground mine averaged 31,542 tonnes on a daily basis for
the quarter. Production during the quarter was 9% higher than the previous
quarter and slightly lower than the corresponding period in 2009.
In total, 2,838,805 tonnes of ore was hoisted during the quarter with a copper
grade of 0.66%. Average copper head grade was relatively unchanged from the last
quarter but 2% lower than the corresponding period in 2009.
Ore treated was slightly lower on a sequential basis due to lower auto mill run
rates as a result of a higher proportion of dolerite in the ore mined and
remained in line with the corresponding period in 2009.
The Copper concentrate production was 6% lower sequentially and 8% lower than
the corresponding period in 2009 due to a combination of lower mill throughput
and lower head grade in reprocessed smelter secondary material.
The copper in concentrate production was 8% lower sequentially and 10% lower
than the corresponding period in 2009 mainly due to a combination of lower
milling rates, concentrate grade and reprocessing of lower grade smelter
secondary material.
New concentrate smelted was 14% lower sequentially and 21% lower than the
corresponding period in 2009 due to reverbratory furnace low feed rates as
result of downtime at the furnace bath and low Wolff crane availability. Process
improvement and technical consultants were engaged during the quarter to address
these issues. As a result work has commenced on recovering the reverb furnace
bath which is expected to result in increased throughput performance during the
second quarter of 2010. In addition, the Wolff crane was removed from service to
perform a refurbishment exercise and will be returned to production in April.
Both of these actions are expected to improve operational performance and output
during the second quarter of 2010.
Magnetite
Magnetite production was consistent with the ramp-up in processing of reclaim
tonnage and placement of additional low grade magnetite in the market. Iron
oxide (56%) contributed 20% of total production whilst coarse magnetite (65%)
contributed 80%.
Vermiculite Operations
Vermiculite production was 8% higher sequentially due to an additional amount of
stockpile material that was decontaminated to meet the upswing in market demand.
The above information has not been reviewed or reported on by the Company`s
auditors.
Phalaborwa
14 April 2010
Sponsor:
Barnard Jacobs Mellet Corporate Finance (Proprietary) Limited
Date: 14/04/2010 16:40:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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