Finders reports first copper plated at Maluku project

Australian mining firm Finders Resources Limited announced on Tuesday that that copper cathode plating has commenced in the electrowinning circuit at its Wetar Copper demonstration plant in Maluku on February 6.

A subsequent minor electrical component failure in the electrowinning circuit is currently being remedied and it is expected that the plant will resume production of copper cathode in approximately 1 week and will reach nameplate capacity of 5TPD of copper cathode by the end of February, it said.

All other components of the operation, including the mine, crushing, stacking, irrigation and solvent extraction are operating in line with design specifications.

Finders is targeting 20,000-25,000TPA copper production from its Wetar Copper Project.

As part of the project feasibility study, Finders is constructing a semi-commercial scale demonstration plant, including a 100,000 tonne test heap and 5 TPD SXEW facility. This plant will ramp up to 150 tonnes of cathode copper /month, and produce significant cash flows from Q1 2009 onwards.(alex)