MARKETS-METALS/RESTARTS =2 June 9
Feb 26 - Oz Minerals Ltd (OZL.AX) said it had started copper and gold production at its newly-developed Prominent Hill mine in Australia. The company said full capacity of 120,000 tpy of copper in concentrates was still expected to be reached by end-year. [ID:nSYU006106]
Feb 19 - Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) said it had shut its 150,000 tpy Nkana copper smelter after the company started to rely on the new 300,000 tpy Nchanga smelter. Plant shut between early April and early May after fire damage. [ID:nL71022040]
Jan 29 - Quadra Mining (QUA.TO) keeps its 2009 target for its Carlota solvent extraction electro-winning (SX-EW) copper project unchanged at 50 million lbs of cathode. Plant came on stream late December.
Dec 5 - Equinox Minerals (EQN.TO) said its Lumwana copper mine began preliminary copper concentrate production. In March the company said mine was ramping up on pace and expected to produce 170,000 tonnes of copper this year.
NICKEL
May 21 - When announcing a downwards revision to its capital expenditure budget, Brazil's Vale (VALE5.SA) said its Goro nickel project in New Caledonia was due to be concluded in H2. While later than the previous Q2 target, it was still due on stream this year after earlier revisions. But the company has also said the start date could change depending on market conditions.
May 15 - The $1.7 billion Ramu nickel project in Papua New Guinea remains on schedule to start in late 2009, said Highlands Pacific Ltd (HIG.AX), which owns an 8.56 percent stake in the mine. [ID:nSYD258731]
May 11 - First production of nickel from Australia's Lounge Lizard deposit will start in three months, owner Kagara Ltd (KZL.AX) said. Initial production will total around 3,000 tonnes of contained nickel a year. [ID:nSYD197507]
April 8 - Mirabela Nickel (MNB.TO) said its 18,500 tpy Santa Rita nickel mine in Brazil remains on track to commence production in mid-2009. Capacity is to rise to 27,000 tpy by mid-2010.
March 26 - In its 2008 annual report Highlands Pacific Ltd (HIG.AX) said the Ramu nickel-cobalt project in Papua New Guinea was scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2009.
March 4 - Talvivaara's (TALV.L) Sotkamo mine in Finland came on stream as planned in October 2008. Full capacity is expected to be reached around March 2010. The 2009 output target was cut to 15,000-18,000 tonnes from 20,000 tonnes, but will still be substantially higher than last year. [ID:nL4601615]
Nov 3 - South Korea's POSCO (005490.KS) launched a 30,000 tpy nickel smelting plant at its Gwangyang steel complex after it signed a joint venture deal with New Caledonia miner SMSP. [ID:nSEO270728]
ZINC AND LEAD
April 9 - In its Q4 2008 production release, Vedanta said its mined zinc output reached a record 175,000 tonnes in that period, up 26.8 percent from a year earlier. it said the increase was due to the successful commissioning and ramp-up of the stream III concentrator at the Rampura Agucha mine, which helped boost refined zinc output by 11.9 percent in Q4.
April 6 - Farallon Resources Ltd said it reached commercial production at the G-9 mine in Guerrero State, Mexico as of April 1. It plans to produce around 55,000 tonnes of contained zinc in 2009.
March 17 - Brazil's Votorantim said it was moving ahead with plans to expand its Cajamarquilla zinc refinery in Peru despite low global metal prices. it said the $500 million upgrade, which will double capacity to 320,000 tonnes per year (tpy), continued as planned. [ID:nN17290072]
Jan 29 - In its 2008 production report, Xstrata (XTA.L) said its zinc concentrate production last year rose by 17 percent, due in part to the startup on July 1 of the new Perseverance mine in Canada. It produced 60,265 tonnes of contained zinc in 2008. At full capacity the mine will produce 115,000 tpy of the metal.
Jan 22 - Mexico's mining chamber said Goldcorp's (G.TO) (GG.N) Penasquito mine was still on track. In December the company said the project was expected to reach mechanical completion by mid-2009, commercial production by Jan 1, 2010. Annual zinc production over life of mine put at over 181,000 tpy.
Q1 - Analysts say the Duddar lead-zinc mine in Pakistan, operated by China Metallurgical Construction Group came on stream after normal project slippage. The project, which will be able to produce 100,000 tpy of contained zinc and 32,000 tpy of lead was due to start up mid-November 2008.
July 2008 - Terramin Australia Ltd (TZN.AX) starts production at Angas lead-zinc mine in Australia. At full capacity it will produce 31,500 tpy of contained zinc and 10,000 tpy of lead. (Compiled by Karen Norton; edited by James Jukwey)
