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Albidon Zambia produces 78000 tonnes of nickel ore in 3 mont
Friday, 04 Jun 2010
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It is been reported that Albidon Zambia Limited, Zambia's Chinese majority owned Munali Nickel Mine produced more than 78,000 tonnes of ore with 81% nickel quality during the first 3 months of 2010, barely 3 months after it resumed production.
Mr Daniel Davis secretary of Albidon Zambia Limited said that USD 20 million working capital loan facility agreement between the mining company and Jinchuan, which was arranged during the quarter under review was executed in April this year.
Mr Davis said in the quarterly activities report that the company achieved 1,310 meters mining development, which was a lateral decline. The miner processed 78,000 tonnes and produced 3,600 tonnes of nickel concentrates and 258 tonnes of contained nickel metal.
He added that "The plant crushed a total of 74,648 tonnes of ore with a head grade of 0.64% Nickel. The mill operated moderately well, achieving a recovery of 52% with 0.35% nickel in the tailings."
The company had during the first three months of 2010 achieved production of 3,600 tonnes of nickel concentrates at 7.2%, producing approximately the 258 tonnes of contained nickel metal. The first shipment of nickel concentrates recommenced by the end of April, and the company had planned to ship 7,500 tonnes. The company carried out some repair and maintenance throughout the operations of the quarter.
On the Munali explorations, Mr Davis said preparations were being made for the program of underground drilling at Munali, while no surface exploration was undertaken during the quarter. The budget for the exploration program on the Chirundu Uranium Joint Venture, in which it has 30% stake was approved during the quarter under review.
During the re opening of the mine on March 26th 2010, Zambian president Mr Rupiah Banda said that it was government’s desire to reopen the mine and create more jobs for the people. The mine which closed last year at the height of the economic recession leading to the fall in the price of the metal plans to re employ more than 350 workers. Albidon Ltd, and currently consists of two deposits namely Enterprise, also known as Munali Phase 1, and Voyager. Although it is billed as a nickel project, Munali also contains commercial quantities of copper, cobalt and platinum group metals.
The project is said to be one of very few new nickel sulphide developments planned worldwide in the next few years, and is expected to have a final direct cash operating cost of about USD 3 per pound of nickel in concentrate.
(Filed by Mr Kapembwa Sinkamba SteelGuru Correspondent Zambia)
