Cominco Res. reports turnaround

Improved financial and operating results were reported by Cominco Resources International (TSE) for its 1991 second quarter ended June 30.

During the period the company tallied a modest loss of $269,000, compared with a loss of $6.7 million in the same quarter of 1990.

This improvement was attributed in part to the company’s Glenbrook Nickel, Maria and Buckhorn projects, all of which earned operating profits in the recent quarter. The combined operations also earned an operating profit for the first six months of this year.

Cominco Resources owns 50% of the Glenbrook Nickel smelter in Oregon. The remaining interest is held by Cominco (TSE), which recently agreed to provide interim financing for a $30-million expansion project that will involve the construction of a port and ore-drying facilities.

This project will enable the operation to import higher-grade ore from New Caledonia and increase production to about 36 million lb. nickel annually. During the 1991 second quarter, the operation produced 1.85 million lb. nickel to Cominco Resources’ account.

The company is also expecting to start up a new concentrator in the 1991 third quarter at its 49% owned Maria copper mine in Mexico.

This high-grade operation produced 27,800 tonnes of ore grading 14% copper during the second quarter, and an additional 8,300 tonnes of lower-grade ore (5% copper) was stockpiled for processing through the new concentrator. The 76.4% owned Buckhorn mine in Nevada turned out 5,520 oz. gold to the company’s account in the recent quarter, although mining operations ceased in May. Heap leaching should continue into 1992.

Cominco Resources also owns a 45% interest in the advanced Quebrada Blanca copper project in Chile, a joint venture with Cominco. But because of the project’s size and capital cost requirements, the company is considering trading a portion of its interest for a funding commitment.

Cominco Resources appears to be moving out of gold projects in Chile. It recently disposed of a 25.7% interest in the Marte project, a gold mining operation that failed to live up to expectations, and is seeking to sell the Lobo and Valy properties, joint ventures, in the same district. The company is involved in a number of exploration projects worldwide, including the Cerattepe property in Turkey where recent drilling returned an 18-metre interval grading 11.2% copper and 3.1 grams gold per tonne. An expanded drill program is planned to further test this high-grade mineralization.

Cominco Resources expects to spend $5 million of its own funds on exploration of various properties this year. This will be augmented by an additional $7.5 million funded by several joint venture partners.