Ramu increase on the cards
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The share price of junior Highlands Pacific rose slightly Monday on news of the potential expansion of the Ramu nickel and cobalt operation, in Papua New Guinea, in which the company holds 8.56%.
Highlands on Monday confirmed that its project partner Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) could spend up to $1.5-billion on expanding the project, with details of the proposed expansion still under wraps.
The project has been achieving record production rates and strong profitability in recent quarters, and MCC recently also increased the ore reserves and mineral resource estimates at the project, with plans for further drilling programmes.
Highlands, in the meantime, said that it was focused on completing its proposed streaming transaction with Canadian company Cobalt 27, giving that company the right to buy 55% of Highlands’ cobalt output and 27.5% of payable nickel metal from the Ramu operation in return for a C$146-million upfront cash deposit to Highlands.
Highlands will use proceeds from the transaction to increase its effective ownership interest in Ramu to 11.3% through repaying its share of outstanding Ramu construction and development loans.
Highlands share prices traded at a high of A$0.12 a share on Monday, up from A$0.115 a share.
The Ramu mine has total estimated reserves of one-billion pounds of nickel and 100-million pounds of cobalt. Highlands management currently estimates a mine life of more than 30 years. Ramu produces about 3% of global mined cobalt a year as a co-product metal.
Ramu exceeded its yearly production projections in 2017, reporting net cash flow of $170-million, on production of 34 666 t of contained nickel and 3 308 t of contained cobalt, both in excess of nameplate capacity.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
ATI systems comprises five divisions: electrical assemblies, drives and controls, feedback sensors, enclosures, and strip guiding.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Your global lifecycle technology & service partner for materials & minerals processing equipment for coal, iron ore, copper, manganese & other...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
