To take advantage of robust metal prices,
Starting in August, Messina will begin churning out 20,000 tonnes of concentrate monthly. Mining will focus on a secondary shaft so as not to impede development of the main shaft, which will be used starting in 2003.
SouthernEra, which owns a 70.4% interest in Messina, says a major South African company is funding the early startup. The loan is unsecured, and exclusive of any financing sought for the main project.
“The cash flow can be used to reduce the equity portion [of the larger project],” says SouthernEra director Rudi Fronk.
Capital costs for the main shaft are now pegged at US$60 million, 25% less than feasibility predictions, but more than half of that total is expected to be covered by debt. About US$10 million has already been covered by internal cash.
The reduced price tag partially reflects recent metallurgical studies that demonstrated that a ball mill can achieve the same recovery rates in the flotation circuit as a rod mill. Hence, secondary and tertiary crushing circuits are no longer required.
About 80,000 tonnes of concentrates are to be produced monthly. The concentrates will be shipped, in slurry form, to the Rustenburg smelter of
Measured and indicated resources are pegged at 26.4 million tonnes averaging 6.30 grams platinum group metals plus gold. The resource extends to a depth of 1,000 metres below surface.
Once commercial production has begun, SouthernEra plans to move the smaller-scale concentrator to the adjoining Doornvlei property, where measured and indicated resources are pegged at 15.18 million tonnes averaging 5.81 grams platinum group metals. The concentrator would be used to process bulk samples.
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