JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Oman Antimony Roaster (OAR) project of Strategic and Precious Metals Processing (SPMP), a company in which London-listed Tri-Star has a 40% interest, is gearing up for production to start in about three months’ time.
In a project update, published on Thursday, Tri-Star reported that the front-end of the plant, comprising the concentrate handling shed and concentrate drying, was complete and ready for cold commissioning. The overall construction is about 86% compete.
The plant is due to produce its first antimony metal in June, with the ramp-up to a rate of between 2 000 t/m to 3 000 t/m expected by the end of 2018. Once in full production, the OAR would produce up to 50 000 dry tonnes a year of antimony and gold concentrate, comprising 20 000 t of antimony and 50 000 oz of gold.
Tri-Star said that negotiations were under way to sell the antimony metal to key customers and the gold doré refinery.
Meanwhile, SPMP has also entered into a new Shari’a-compliant banking agreement with Alizz Islamic Bank for $30-million that will be used for project and trade finance. The facility will rank alongside the company’s existing debt by Bank Nizwa and brings SPMP’s total debt facility to $70-million.