Suppliers News (December 04, 2006)

Richmont to mill Rocmec ore

Under a recent deal with Richmont Mines (ric-t, ric-x), Pointe-Claire, Que.-based, Rocmec Mining (rmi-v, rccmf-o) will process about 40,000 tonnes of ore from its Rocmec1 gold project (formerly Russian Kid) at Richmont’s Camflo mill in Quebec’s Abitibi region.

The ore was derived from bulk sampling under way at Rocmec1 and will be processed over the next year. The first 7,500 tonnes were being processed at presstime.

The contract will provide Rocmec with consistent cash flow while Richmont gets some bonus cash from a percentage of milled ore.

The high-grade ore extracted by means of thermal fragmentation will be stockpiled on-site or sent to a refiner, whereas the ore produced from drift development and long-hole or shrinkage work will be processed in 10,000-tonne quantities at Camflo.

Rocmec plans to grow by exploiting narrow, high-grade precious metal quartz veins with its exclusive thermal fragmentation process, together with conventional mining methods. The company hopes to grow into a mid-sized gold producer.

Codelco chooses ABB for Gaby electrowinning plant

ABB, an engineering company that builds and designs power and automated equipment, says it will supply Codelco with rectifiers for a solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) plant for the company’s $900-million Gaby copper oxide project in Chile.

ABB will sell Codelco four 40kA/ 270-volt direct current rectifiers. And to complement those, ABB will deliver four rectifier transformers, a harmonic filter, a harmonic filter engineering study, as well as commissioning and startup services.

Gaby hosts an oxide copper resource located in Chile’s Second Region, 200 km east of Antofagasta.

The Gaby project will include an open-pit mine and processing facilities to produce 150,000 tonnes of pure copper per year in the form of cathodes.

Commissioning is slated for early 2008.

The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 107,000.

Codelco is the world’s largest producer of copper with a production capacity of more than 1.73 million tonnes of refined copper per year, and about 20% of the world’s reserves.

Gemcom posts small profit in Q2

Mining software-maker Gemcom Software International (gcm-t, gemcf-o) earned $800,000, or 2 per share, on revenue of $8.1 million in the company’s fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006. Revenue jumped 147% from $4.1 million over the previous quarter, and by 98% when compared with last year’s second quarter.

Gemcom’s latest quarterly results are the first to include software and services sales from Gemcom’s purchase of software developer Surpac Minex in late July.

During the recent quarter, accounting systems of both companies were aligned while they worked out corporate and regulatory reporting issues.

Other highlights from the recent quarter include an increase in income from operations, which jumped by more than 78% to $1.1 million from $600,000 in the second quarter of 2005. Cash and cash equivalents increased by 20% to $7.7 million from the previous quarter’s $6.4 million, and by 40% when compared with a cash balance of $5.5 million at the end of March 2006.

“Profitable growth, a strong balance sheet and cash-on-hand position has enabled us to execute a build, buy, OEM and partner approach to expanding our technology and services capabilities to meet the needs of the mining industry,” says Gemcom president and CEO, Rick Moignard.

Gemcom expects to release new versions of its In-Site mine performance management platform and Whittle — its mine planning software — by year-end.

Established in 1985, Gemcom has a global reach, delivering services and support in all major mining centres in more than 90 countries.

Atlas Copco to supply DRC’s Kamoto

Stockholm, Sweden-based Atlas Copco has won an order worth more than MSEK 100 (US$14.5 million) to supply underground blast-hole drilling, rock bolting, loading and haulage equipment for the Kamoto copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, being built by Katanga Mining (kat-t).

The order consists of four face drilling rigs, four rock bolters, four 15-tonne loaders, six mine trucks, as well as parts and accessories. The units are scheduled to start arriving on-site in March 2007.

The Kamoto mine in Katanga province is currently undergoing extensive development and rehabilitation work in order to restart production of copper and cobalt in late 2007.

According to the agreement with Kamoto Operating, the joint venture managing the project, Atlas Copco will provide the main fleet required to restart the mine.

“The Katanga province has been supplying copper and cobalt to world markets for more than 70 years,” says Bjorn Rosengren, president, Atlas Copco Construction and Mining Technique.

The mine is expected to reach an annual production of 150,000 tonnes copper and 5,000 tonnes cobalt.

The order was won by Atlas Copco Zambia, which serves the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2005, Atlas Copco had 27,000 employees and revenues of US$7.7 billion.