Magellan says could restart Australia mine quickly

By James Regan

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Ivernia Inc (IVW.TO), which idled a giant lead mine in Australia nearly a year ago after a port halted shipments over a contamination scare, said it could restart mining quickly if it gains approval to use another port, though no date for a restart had been set.

The Magellan mine, located some 900 km (563 miles) northeast of the western city of Perth, was set to supply about 3 percent of the world's mined lead before operations were suspended in April, causing a sharp rise in lead futures prices and leaving 19,000 tonnes of lead stockpiled at the site.

"It shouldn't take very long to restart, its a one-mine operation and we've got a stockpile of material up there ready to go," John Yeates, general manager of corporate and social responsibility told Reuters.

"We have conditional approval, which means we can't go ahead until the conditions have been satisfied or we can demonstrate we can meet the conditions," Yeates said.

"We don't want to set a date or set expectations, but obviously we do want to get on with it," he said.

Ivernia was forced to seek an alternative port after the port of Esperance in Western Australia state blocked shipments when thousands of birds in the area were found dead from lead poisoning.

Ivernia proposed using the port of Fremantle just south of Perth, but state government environmental authorities imposed financial and logistical conditions on the company, which must be met before shipments can start.

Ivernia this week named a manager to supervise future health and safety operations but had yet to identify an independent auditor to monitor shipments -- one of the state government's conditions.

The other conditions included placing ground lead ore, or concentrates, in sealed containers and lodging a A$5 million ($4.4 million) bond.

"We're still waiting, certainly nothing has changed since our point of view " said a spokeswoman for Western Australia state minister for the environment, David Templeman.

Three-month London Metal Exchange-traded lead MPB3 sells for nearly $3,000 a tonne. About a year ago it cost less than $1,700 a tonne.

Some 9,000 tonnes of lead is also marooned at Esperance port. Yeates said there were no plans to ship that material via Fremantle. ($1=A$1.11) (Editing by Jonathan Standing)