| Tue 17 Oct 2006, 16:28 | | Palabora Mining Company Limited - Third Quarter 20 |
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PAM
PAM
Palabora Mining Company Limited - Third Quarter 2006 - 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")
THIRD QUARTER 2006 - OPERATIONS OVERVIEW AND PRODUCTION STATISTICS
3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 9 MTHS 9 MTHS
2005 2005 2006 2006 2006 2005 2006
Palabora mine
Tonnes hoisted (`000 tonnes) 2,672 2,771 8,186
2,677 2,400 2,743 7,632
Ore treated ("000 tonnes) 2,572 2,349 2,646 2,633 2,668 7,187 7,947
Average ore grade: copper 0.71 0.72 0.71 0.70 0.72 0.71 0.71
(%)
Copper concentrates produced 52.9 47.8 51.5 43.0 53.4 149.3 147.9
("000 tonnes)
Average concentrate grade: 31.3 31.2 29.9 30.5 29.4 31.0 29.9
copper (%)
Copper in concentrates ("000 16.6 14.9 15.4 13.1 15.7 46.2 44.1
tonnes)
Palabora smelter/refinery
New concentrate smelted on 75.2 82.2 42.0 83.3 87.7 222.2 213.0
site ("000 tonnes)
New copper anodes produced 22.7 22.4 10.0 24.0 22.4 62.0 56.4
("000 tonnes)
Refined new copper produced 22.1 20.6 14.3 21.9 22.9 59.8 59.1
("000 tonnes)
By-products:
Magnetite concentrate ("000 267 231 251 296 299 657 846
tonnes)
Refined nickel sulphate 37 57 35 28 25 129 88
(tonnes)
Vermiculite plant
Vermiculite produced ("000 53 55 48 48 52 155 148
tonnes)
Palabora, 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.
In the third quarter of the year, daily production from the underground mine
averaged 30,125 tonnes despite longer than planned maintenance work on the
underground infrastructure. The production was 2% higher than the prior quarter
and 4% higher than the corresponding period in 2005. In total, 2,771,469 tonnes
of ore were hoisted with a copper grade of 0.72%, slightly higher than the
previous quarter.
Total mill throughput was 1.3% (2,668 vs 2633) above the previous quarter owing
to higher mine output and 3.7% better than the corresponding period in 2005. The
monthly variation in mill head grade was minimal in the quarter, with lower
dolerite content resulting in a 2.7% headgrade increase relative to the previous
quarter and 1.4% above the grade in the corresponding period in 2005.
Copper concentrate produced was 24% (53.4 vs 43) higher during the quarter due
to a reduction in internal concentrator inventories and lower concentrates
grade. The concentrate grade dropped by 4% in the quarter compared to the second
quarter mainly as a result of unfavourable copper mineralogy during the month of
August.
Concentrate smelted increased by 5% (87.7 vs 83.3) compared to the second
quarter and by 17% against the corresponding period in 2005 due to improved
efficiencies and consistency of reverb operations. New copper in anodes
decreased compared to the second quarter due to lower concentrate grades and
process inefficiencies in the converters.
Refined copper production was in line with anode supply from the smelter. New
refined copper during the first half of the year was higher than new anode
produced due to the inventory of anodes built up in the first quarter to cover
the smelter shutdown.
Vermiculite Operations
Vermiculite production in the quarter was in line with expectation but 3% below
the corresponding quarter for 2005. The main contributing factor for the lower
production was due to the decline of the plant feed grade from 24.9% to 23%.
Overall, the plant recovery during the quarter remained at 69%, slightly higher
than expected.
Magnetite
Magnetite production remained in line with the previous quarter with slight
increase in the volume coal washery grade material.
Phalaborwa
17 October 2006
Sponsor:
Barnard Jacobs Mellet Corporate Finance (Pty) Limited
Date: 17/10/2006 04:28:48 PM Produced by the JSE SENS Department
