Newmont to boost output at Nusa Tenggara mine
Thursday, March 15 2007 - 02:25 AM WIB
NTT?s manager of mines service Denis Hendri said the company will add one more semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill to the existing two similar mills.
?With the addition of this mill, the output will be increased from the processing of ore,? Denis said at a workshop on mining in West Sumbawa on Wednesday.
Denis mentioned that from the ore output of 58.4 million tons, NNT will be able to produce 684 million pounds of copper, 921,000 ounces of gold and 2.81 million ounces of silver.
According to Denis, Newmont initially planned to develop the new mill in 2001 and 2002 but the plan was then shelved because the firm believed it could reach its production target with the existing mills.
This year, NTT will process 43.48 million tons of ore with the copper content of 0.56 percent, gold content of 0.42 gram per ton (gpt) and silver content of 1.28 gpt. The company is expecting to produce 453 million pounds of copper, 463,000 ounces of gold and 1.5 million ounces of silver from the ore.
Meanwhile, NNT general supervisor for smelting and marketing Mirza Az said that NNT will increase its supply of concentrate to PT Smelting in Gresik, East Java to 25 percent of its total production in 2007.
?It will be an increase from 11 percent in 2006,? Mirza said.
Most of NNT?s concentrate is currently being exported to foreign countries ? 50 percent to Japan, 18 percent to South Korea, 9 percent to Europe, 7 percent to India, and 5 percent to the Philippines. (*)