Rusina Mining"s Acoje chromite feasibility study in the Philippines continues on schedule.

The company is considering a staged approach in the development of the Acoje project, starting with a stand-alone open pit mining project from from which cash flows can be used to fund a later underground mining operation.

This not only reduces risks but also allows the current feasibility study to focus the majority work on surface activities only. The historic surface chromite resource contains both lateritic soils and hard rock material which are currently being brought to a JORC compliant standard.

Rusina is currently compiling the historic chromite mining data on the property. A full set of underground plans and 60 years of drilling logs are being captured into a digital system. Once complete, this data will be used in the validation process required to obtain confidence in the historic ore resources reported by the previous operator.

Surface chromite resources at Acoje are present in shallow hard rock deposits and within the tropical laterite soils developed over the chromite mineralized bed rock. During the past quarter Rusina delineated a significant area of laterite containing high levels of chromite. It says it has completed a program of manual test pitting to locate and define areas of laterite containing sufficient chromite to support two yeas of mining.

An audit is being conducted to review the condition of the existing 13.8 KV power infrastructure at Acoje taking into account the requirement for future upgrades to 69 KV as the project's power requirements grow. A 600 MW coal fired power station is located at Masinloc, 30km from Acoje.

GAIA South, a Philippine environmental consultancy has started the environmental impact assessment. Permitting for the operation is progressing well.

Rusina has significant in-house permitting expertise. All required permits and requirements have been identified and documented in a report and requisite resources assigned to ensure the start of mining by the third quarter of 2007.

AMMTEC of Perth has now been commissioned to undertake the chrome laterite recovery test work. The metallurgical properties of the hard rock chromite are reasonably well known and the main metallurgical confirmation work will be focusing on the laterites. The test work results are due this month.

There are three deep water ports within 30km of Acoje. The Masinloc port, owned by Benquet Corp is located 30 km to the south, and has a ship loading conveyor. The former Acoje deep water port is 15km from Acoje and has significant chromite storage facilities from when the Acoje mine was last in operation. There is also a third port operated by an oil company nearby.

Rusina believes the Acoje mine area is ideally situated to develop a world class mine, particularly nickel laterites. There is abundant water supply in several large rivers. Abundant land is available for tailings disposal. The area is very sparsely populated and no indigenous people occupy the land. The laterites are not conducive to agriculture and very little farming takes place.

Zambales Province has been a major chromite mining area for many decades and the local population is pro-mining. An extensive network of roads is developed over the laterite and very little new road building is required to explore and develop the deposits. The Philippines is located 700km from China, a major growing market. Rusina's plans are to investigate the feasibility of a Direct Shipping Operation (DSO) of the laterites. Due to the high iron grades, it believes Acoje laterites will be keenly sought-after, particularly in the China market which is two days sailing. DSO nickel laterites can achieve between 9-25% of the nickel value depending on grades. www.rusina.com.au

News sourced from International Mining Project News - www.im-mining.com