Monday 29 October 2012

Rambler Metals declares commercial production at Ming mine


Rambler Metal & Mining’s (LON:RMM, CVE:RAB) Ming copper and gold mine in Newfoundland will be declared in commercial production from November following its running continuously for 60 days.
Production since May has totalled 7,300 wet metric tonnes, enough for it trigger its agreement with offtake partner Transamine and issue a load readiness notice.
Rambler has produced a concentrate that averages 27% copper, 6 g/t gold and 49 g/t silver, of which 6,225 wet metric tonnes have been invoiced to Transamine at average provisional pricing of US$3.52 per pound copper, US$1,669 per ounce gold and US $30.47 per ounce silver generating US$12.5 million in revenue.
Rambler eventually expects to ship between 9,000 and 10,000 wet metric tonnes of concentrate onto Transamine’s vessel.
Milling recoveries have averaged 90% copper and 65% for gold. The company said it will shortly test reprocessing floatation tailings through the CIP circuit to try and improve gold recovery to 85%.
Rambler added that development and run of mine head grades have been also steadily increased as thicker parts of the ore body are accessed. 
George Ogilvie, Rambler’s president and chief executive, said: "The last 12 months have been transformational for the company as we have transitioned ourselves through construction, development, commissioning, production ramp up and now finally into commercial production.
He added that going forward the company will use if first year cash flow to strengthen its financial position and pay down debt.
A portion of free cash will specifically be used to re-pay the Sprott $7.5M debt under an existing credit facility.
"Shortly we will also begin processing tailings from the copper flotation circuit prior to discharge into the tailings pond. 
“In laboratory tests this process opportunity increased gold recovery from 66% to 85%. The field trial makes economic sense particularly in a robust gold price environment. 
“Now that we are in production this is just one of many opportunities that we intend to exploit over the coming months," he added.

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