Herald awaits final approval from Ministry of Forestry on N. Sumatra project

Australian miner Herald Resources Limited said Wednesday that it is awaiting a final approval from the Ministry of Forestry in order to allow site works to commence Dairi zinc/lead project in North Sumatra.

Herald said that the Minister of the Environment has advised the Minister of Forestry that the company?s AMDAL (Environmental Impact Assessment), and its Environment Management Plan and Monitoring scheme, carried out under the jurisdiction of the Dairi regent, fully complies with all relevant Indonesian environmental laws.

The Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Management (EPCM) contracts for the project will be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2006, Herald said on Oct 5.

Commissioning of the process plant remains on schedule in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company, together with its 20 percent partner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk, is planning to develop Dairi zinc/lead project to process 1 million tons of ore per annum and to produce between 220,000 and 100,000 tons of zinc and lead concentrates annually.

The project is estimated to cost US$118 million. (denny)