Engineering & Mining Journal

MAR 2013

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/115330

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 23 of 91

REGIONAL NEWS - EUROPE KGHM Releases Technical Report on its Copper-Silver Operations and 48 g/mt silver, containing 18.6 million mt of copper and 1,800 million oz of silver. These reserves include allowances for both mining losses and dilution but do not include an allowance for metallurgical recovery. The reserves are sufficient to maintain KGHM's current mine production rate of about 30 million mt/y for 30 to 40 years. Northland Faces Cash Crunch at Operating Start-up KGHM's two smelter/refineries—Legnica and Głogów (shown here)—treat all of its produced concentrates as well as purchased scrap and concentrates. (Photo courtesy of KHGM) Polish copper producer KGHM Polska Miedź has released a detailed, NI 43-101compliant technical report on the full extent of its resources and production activities. The 159-page report was prepared by Micon International, of Canada, and follows Canada's NI 43-101 guidelines with respect to disclosure of mining assets. KGHM commissioned the report "in order to match the highest standards of communicating with the market practiced by global companies from the mining and metals sector." KGHM has been in operation in the Legnica-Głogów copper belt continuously since 1961 and is listed on the Warsaw stock exchange. Its operations are fully integrated from mining to manufacture of fabricated metal products. Its principal products are electrolytic copper and refined silver. In 2011, KGHM was the world's ninth largest producer of mined copper and produced 571,000 mt of electrolytic copper. It was the world's largest silver producer, with an output of 40.5 million oz of refined silver. Saleable by-products, which together contribute only a minor proportion of KGHM's total revenue, are gold, platinumpalladium concentrate, rhenium, selenium, lead, nickel sulphate, sulphuric acid, and rock salt, which is mined from a halite 22 E&MJ; • MARCH 2013 horizon in the hanging wall of the coppersilver ore zone. KGHM's principal operations are: • Three large underground mines—Lubin, Polkowice-Sieroszowice, and Rudna— which extend over a strike length of approximately 40 km and have the capacity to produce about 30 million mt/y of copper-silver ore. • Three concentrators—Lubin, Polkowice and Rudna—which have a throughput capacity of 30 million mt/y of ore and which produce 1.8 million to 1.9 million mt/y of copper-silver flotation concentrates. • Two smelters and refineries—Legnica and Głogów—which treat all of the concentrates produced by KGHM, as well as purchased scrap and concentrates. • The Cedynia copper rolling mill, which produces 230,000 mt/y of copper wire rod, including approximately 17,000 mt/y of specialty oxygen-free copper rod. The Micon report includes detailed discussion of the geology and mineralization of the KGHM properties. In Micon's opinion, proven and probable mineral reserves contained within company's mining concessions as of year-end 2011 totaled 1,181 million mt at grades of approximately 1.58% copper Northland Resources was confronted by troubles on multiple fronts in late January and February as its operating subsidiaries struggled to get its new Kaunisvaara iron ore mine in northern Sweden into a stable operating mode. Northland was short of working capital to fund both short-term and longer-term operations. As a result, on February 8 and 12, the operating subsidiaries filed for reconstruction in a Swedish court, a process that is to some extent comparable to Chapter 11 in U.S. bankruptcy law in that it provides a company with protection from its creditors as it seeks to get on its financial feet. To support the reconstruction, Northland was seeking support from bondholders and stakeholders for about $12 million needed to enable it to continue full operation until March 4, by which time the company hoped to have reached a solution to its longer-term funding needs. Longer term, the company was seeking about $425 million to carry it through to full production. On February 18, the Toronto Stock Exchange notified Northland that it had failed to meet requirements for continued listing on the exchange and that its common shares would be delisted at the close of the market on March 18, with trading of its shares suspended until that time. Northland's shares are also listed on the Oslo Børs, where trading was continuing, at least for the time being. Northland completed construction of the first phase of the Kaunisvaara project and started production ramp up in November 2012. Its first iron ore concentrate was shipped by rail to the port of Narvik in Norway on December 18, 2012. (Continued on p. 28) www.e-mj.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Engineering & Mining Journal - MAR 2013