LAOS – First shipment of Phu Kham copper-gold concentrate

The first shipment of copper-gold concentrate from PanAust’s Phu Kham operations in Laos has been made from Sriracha Harbour in Thailand.

The shipment of 10,000 tonnes of concentrate has been sold to a Chinese copper smelter and the company is now preparing for its second 10,000 tonne shipment from Sriracha this month.

Under steady state operations it is envisaged that 10,000 tonne shipments will be undertaken about every two weeks.

Commercial production began at Phu Kham on June 1 and the company has been making solid progress with the ramp-up to full design levels.

The ramp-up is scheduled to take 12 months with the initial 6 month focus on meeting design ore throughput levels equivalent to 12 million tonnes per annum and then a focus on optimizing metallurgical recoveries. To date ore feed to the mills is consistently meeting design throughput levels of 1500 tonnes per hour.

At full production levels Phu Kham is scheduled to produce 240,000 tonnes of concentrate per annum containing 60,000 tonnes of copper, 60,000 ounces of gold and 600,000 ounces of silver.

Despite seasonal wet weather the operation achieved a monthly record for mining production of ore and waste totaling 1,553,653 tonnes during June, a record that underscores the capacity of the operation to manage seasonal rainfall issues and still meet production targets.

By the start of 2010 PanAust will have completed an extension to lift annual production to 300,000 tonnes of concentrate containing 75,000 tonnes of copper, 65,000 ounces of gold and 600,000 ounces of silver. A conceptual study is also underway with the target of subsequently increasing annual copper production at Phu Kham to 100,000 tonnes.

www.panaust.com.au

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