Gulf: Negotiations with miners for ore supply in progress

By Romel S. Gurky

ASX-listed Gulf Manganese Corporation Limited reported Wednesday that negotiations are continuing with local miners for the future supply of ore to the Kupang Smelting Hub in East Nusa Tenggara province.

"Discussions continue to progress positively with locals, and agreements have already been reached with two miners for supply for circa1000 tons per month each," the firm said in a statement.

The statement said a detailed review of manganese ore potential in Indonesia was also undertaken by the company in the first quarter of 2016, which confirmed that there is a potential extractable manganese mineralisation of 29Mt for Production IUPs and 114Mt for Exploration and Production IUPs.

In July, the company reported that it had received robust support from all local regulatory parties involved in the approval granting process in Indonesia, following a number of positive meetings with the local government, the provincial government and relevant departments in the central government.

Encouragingly, it was noted that Gulf had delivered more than the Indonesian law requires in order to establish grass roots approval from the community and the representatives of the community. Gulf has already been granted a Principle License for foreign investment from the Indonesian Investment Coordination Board (BKPM), and the strong support of the Governor and the provincial government is considered an integral step towards finalising the approval process. "The company therefore anticipates all relevant permitting approvals to be granted in late July 2016/early August," Gulf said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak