Finders temporarily stops Wetar plant pending forestry acess permit

Australian firm Finders Resources has temporarily stopped the demonstration SX-EW copper cathode plant at its Wetar copper project, on Wetar Island, Maluku province pending a permit to access forestry areas.

?The Regent of Maluku Barat Daya, who administers the area covering Finders Resources? copper project on Wetar Island, has written to a number of companies with exploration tenements in the district including Finders. The letter requests the companies to finalise permits required for access to forestry areas and to suspend activities until the permits are issued. Finders have taken the view that it is prudent to shut down the demonstration plant temporarily in response to this request,? the company said in statement.

Applications allowing Finders to recommence work in tenements within forestry areas are at various stages in the approval process. At this stage Finders expects the permits covering Finders? Wetar copper project to be issued in January, in which case, Finders estimates that approximately 50 tons of budgeted copper cathode production will be delayed by up to a month, it said.

The application for the grant of a mining permit continues to be processed by the local authorities. Detailed engineering activities continue in preparation for a revised Stage 2 capital cost estimate. Transportation of the Whim Creek plant to Indonesia is now planned for the end of the first quarter, with a crew scheduled to dismantle the recently purchased stacker and agglomerator in February

A demonstration SX-EW plant with 5 tons per day copper cathode capacity was commissioned in February 2009 and is permitted to process 100,000 tons of ore from the Kali Kuning deposit. The demonstration plant is producing LME Grade A copper cathode. The Company is targeting commercial production of 23.000 tons per year copper cathode, subject to permitting and project funding. (romel)