The earlier delivery of a ball mill will see the completion date for the expansion of Pan Australian"s Phu Kham Copper-Gold Mine in Laos brought forward by six months.

Completion of the work is now expected in the December quarter of 2009.

An order for a ball mill has been placed with CITIC HMC1, which has confirmed an earlier than anticipated delivery date.

To finance acceleration of the US$40 million capital works for the expansion and a substantially increased 2008 exploration and evaluation budget of US$30 million, Pan Australian has agreed terms for a US$75 million subordinated debt facility with Goldman Sachs JBWere. This will also provide the company with funding flexibility through the first year of production.

Construction at Phu Kham Mine continues to run ahead of the original schedule. The first concentrate production is expected to be achieved in the March quarter 2008 with the first sales to occur during the June quarter. Construction remains within the US$241 million capital budget.

The expansion will deliver a 33% increase in throughput from a nominal design rate of 12 million tonnes per annum of ore in the second half of 2008 to a rate of 16 million tonnes in early 2010.

Average annual production of 65,000 tonnes of copper, 60,000 ounces of gold and 550,000 ounces of silver could be achieved from 2010 onwards.

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