Gulf acquires two ferromanganese smelting furnaces

By Romel S. Gurky

ASX-listed Gulf Manganese Corporation Limited said on Monday that it has finalized an agreement with South African-based Transalloys (Pty) Limited for the acquisition and relocation of two ferromanganese smelting furnaces.

The company said in a statement that under the terms of the agreement, Gulf will purchase two furnaces (including related equipment), from Transalloys for the total cash consideration of US$1 million. Gulf has also agreed to supply Transalloys with up to 30,000 tons per annum of high grade manganese ore at the current reported Metal Bulletin?s index price for manganese lumpy, for a period of three years (once export licenses have been granted).

Specialist engineering firm and XRAM Technologies (Pty) Limited has been engaged to undertake all design and construction requirements associated with the refurbishment and relocation of the furnaces to the Kupang Smelting Hub, in West Timor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia, which is expected to incur minimal costs, the company said.

?The smelters are proposed to be shipped from their current location in South Africa in October, with an anticipated arrival at the Kupang site in November 2016,? the statement said.

Gulf?s Managing Director, Hamish Bohannan, commented: ?The acquisition of our first two smelting furnaces is a key milestone for Gulf, and represents a significant step forward in our evolution as a leading manganese alloy producer.

Following the recent securing of a US$10 million cornerstone investment, Gulf now has the requisite financial flexibility to execute a number of near-term objectives in the development of the Kupang Smelting Hub Project. The Board looks forward to providing our shareholders with further updates in coming weeks.?

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak