8th Apr 2008 11:21
Albidon Limited08 April 2008 Level 1 62 Colin St West Perth 6005ALBIDON LIMITED Western Australia ARBN 107 288 755 Tel:+61 8 9211 4600 Fax:+61 8 9211 4699 Email:[email protected] ASX Code: ALB AIM Code: ALD 8th April, 2008 MUNALI NICKEL PROJECT - PLANNED PRODUCTION INCREASE HIGHLIGHTS • The Board has approved an upgrade to the Munali concentrator to increase nickel production from the project by 20%. • Production from Munali will increase to 10,000 - 10,500 tonnes of nickel in concentrate per annum. • The concentrator capacity will be upgraded from 900,000 to 1,200,000 tpa, with work to commence immediately. • Capital costs for this upgrade are estimated at US$2.5million. The upgrade will be funded from cash reserves. Munali Nickel Project Albidon's 100% owned Munali Nickel Project is located approximately 60kilometres south of Zambia's capital city Lusaka. Site works commenced inSeptember 2006 and construction of the project is now 95% complete with firstconcentrate production expected by the end of this month. Optimisation Study The Company has completed a review of the Munali concentrator to assess theviability of increasing the mill throughput and therefore nickel production perannum. The optimization study has concluded that the present concentrator can beupgraded from the existing nameplate capacity of 900,000tpa to 1.2mtpa with acapital investment of $US2.5m. It has been decided to commence this workimmediately so the Company can take advantage of the construction personnelcurrently on site. It is expected that mill capacity will reach a rate of1.2mtpa by January 2009. Work involved will include upgrades to the flotation capacity, blowers for theflotation cells, mill feed system and modifications to the milling circuit. The increase in the milling capacity will result in a 20% increase in theannualised production from the Project to approximately 10,000 to 10,500 tonnesof nickel in concentrate. The concentrator upgrade will be funded from cash reserves available from thecapital raising in December, 2007. This capital raising was designed to ensurethe Company had sufficient funds to allow expansion work, scoping studies andadditional drilling activities. Therefore no additional capital raising isrequired to fund this work. The Board has approved the upgrade subject to SeniorLender approval. Munali Mining Progress The Project commenced production of first ore from development in January 2008,several months ahead of schedule. The accelerated development has continued withdelivery of a third two-boom jumbo in March. At the end of March there were some25,000 tonnes of ore stockpiled on the Run of Mine (ROM) pad in readiness forstart-up of the crushing and milling circuit. Due to the continued rapid development of the mine there are now eight (8) oredrives being developed and delivering ore to the ROM pad. Munali Construction Progress and Schedule Construction of the Munali Project plant and associated infrastructure has alsocontinued to press forward ahead of the previously advised schedule. In thecrushing circuit "hot commissioning" commenced over the past weekend. This isthe process whereby material is fed through the crushing circuit as a test ofthe various systems. The milling, flotation, thickening and filtration circuits will be completedwithin a fortnight at which time their hot commissioning will also commence. As a result of the rapid construction advance it is expected first concentratewill be produced before the end of April, some two months ahead of the originalschedule. If you have any queries please contact the Chief Financial Officer, Nicholas Dayor Managing Director, Dale Rogers on +61 8 9211 4600 or email [email protected]. Albidon's nominated adviser is RFC Corporate Finance Ltd, contact Stephen Allen+61 8 9480 2500. Additional information may also be viewed on Albidon's website at www.albidon.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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