Perth, Dec 12, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Diversified minerals developer India Resources (ASX:IRL) is on the cusp of full scale mining and production at its Surda copper project in north east India, following encouraging results from its trial mining operations.
Broadcaster: India Resources Limited (ASX: IRL)
Broadcast Title: Surda Copper Project Production Update
Broadcast Type: Audio stream
Audio webcast Link:
http://abnnewswire.net/alnk/10BXB1YB
Listen to the Audio stream and view the announcement for India Resources Limited (ASX: IRL) below.
http://abnnewswire.net/vlnk/PSKC4VP4
Diversified minerals developer India Resources (ASX:IRL) is on the cusp of full scale mining and production at its Surda copper project in north east India, following encouraging results from its trial mining operations.
Production at Surda commenced ahead of schedule last month and IRL has since mined about 2000 tonnes of ore, and including broken ore from previous mining activity, has crushed about 3000 tonnes.
IRL Chairman Michael Kiernan said mining and concentrating operations had performed well, and the Company had achieved its early targets for copper grades and recovery rates.
"Our active mining face shows grades up to 1.9% copper (average of 1.1% Cu), and we have achieved concentrate grades of up to 23.4%," Mr Kiernan said.
"Trial recoveries were 80%, although we expect that to rise to 95% by January 2008, and concentrate grades to increase to 25% over that time as well.
"We now have more than 400 people employed either directly or through contractors, and our refurbishment of the mine continues ahead of schedule," Mr Kiernan said.
While ore from the active working areas at Surda is dominated by chalcopyrite as stringers and disseminated ore, mining has also identified a zone of semi-massive sulphide (see photo overpage). Recent mine and plant refurbishment at Surda has included reconditioning of machinery and ore bins, and refurbishment of underground working areas.
At the Mosaboni Concentrator plant, the first of two available crushing lines has been refurbished, along with one of five ball mills and one of five flotation lines. This work has allowed production to commence with ongoing improvements to increase capacity to its nameplate 2,700 tonnes per day.
"We expect to be in full scale mining this month and we are on track to achieve an initial annual target of 4500 tonnes of copper concentrate per year," Mr Kiernan said.
Contact
Eoin Rothery
Tel: +61 (0) 8 9324 7009
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