Finders sees opportunities to extend mine life on Wetar Island
Thursday, May 25 2017 - 12:59 PM WIB
ASX-listed Finders Resources Ltd said that opportunities for extending the mine life past the current 7 years are strongly founded on exploration upside, focusing initially on the nearby Meron satellite deposit and other identified VMS copper and gold targets on Wetar Island, Maluku Province, including Karkopang.
?Several satellite targets identified to grow mine life,? Finders said in a statement on Thursday.
Finders is the operator of the Wetar Copper Project (72% interest) located on Wetar Island in Maluku Tenggara Barat Regency.
Finders currently operates a 25,000 ton per annum (t.p.a) copper cathode solvent extraction‐electrowinning (SX‐EW) plant, commissioned in May 2016, and a 3,000 t.p.a SX‐EW plant giving annual production capacity of 28,000 tons copper cathode. To date, the plants have produced over 21,000 tons of copper cathode, 80 percent of which has been sold at a premium to the LME price.
In March 2017 quarter copper cathode produced 6,125 tons, the company said.
The project currently has a total debt of US$81.3 million (including a VAT facility) repayable over the period to March 2019 and has a projected cash operating cost of $1.05/lb Cu over the life of mine.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak