Loan will help Mincor boost Monarch’s yield

A $5-million loan has made it possible for Mincor Resources (ASE) to expand its operations in Mozambique.

The money, loaned by a group of European investors, will enable Mincor to expand and upgrade the Monarch gold mine in Mozambique. The company currently processes 250 tons per day from Monarch’s open-pit and underground operations. Projected 1995 production is 10,000 oz.

Mincor intends to increase Monarch’s mining and milling capacity, as well as improve gold recovery rates to more than 90% from the current 73%. As a result, gold production is expected to rise to 25,000 oz. in 1996.

The loan will also allow Mincor to fund exploration programs on land it owns in the vicinity of the Monarch mine. Most of this land remains unexplored.

In addition, Mincor plans to use a portion of the money to explore and evaluate a 43,313-acre concession in Mozambique’s Niassa province.

The Tanzanian Reserve Bank reports that between 1990 and 1993, more than 440,000 oz. of gold was recovered from both lode and placer deposits in the area of the Niassa concession using primitive small-scale mining methods. The property is situated on a newly identified extension of the Tanzanian greenstone belt.

Mincor will be allocating a preliminary budget of $450,000 to the Niassa project.