Highland still dubious on Frieda River study

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Despite views from a mining industry consultant that the updated Frieda River feasibility study (FS) could be presented to lenders to secure possible financing, ASX-listed Highlands Pacific has said it remains of the view that the study still does not meet the standards required by the joint venture (JV) agreement and is, therefore, incomplete in a number of key areas.

Mining consultant Behre Dolbear Australia (DBA) had conducted a peer review on the initial FS provided by JV partner PanAust, and had identified a number of shortcomings and omissions.

PanAust subsequently carried out additional work, which resulted in the release of an addendum earlier this year.

The addendum increased the project’s internal rate of return from 10.8% to 11.4% and its post-tax net present value from $820-million to $1.13-billion. Annual copper-in-concentrate production also increased from 190 000 t/y to 200 000 t/y, while annual gold-in-concentrate production increased from 260 000 oz/y to 280 000 oz/y.

Highlands CEO Craig Lennon on Thursday said the company was continuing to work towards a resolution with PanAust, including an agreement regarding ongoing funding of project developments.

Meanwhile, Highlands has told shareholders that its 8.56% interest in the Ramu nickel/cobalt project, in Papua New Guinea, could deliver some $15-million a year, based on current cobalt prices.

Highlands on Thursday reported that the Ramu mine produced 7 884 t of nickel-in-concentrate and 755 t of cobalt-in-concentrate in the three months to March, despite scheduled maintenance at two of the process plant’s three autoclaves for a 12-day period.

The plant was currently running above design capacity, producing at rates of 34 600 t/y of nickel and more than 3 300 t/y of cobalt. Based on the current cobalt prices, Ramu’s contained value for cobalt production alone was worth $180-million.

“We are delighted to see that Ramu is achieving excellent production outcomes at the same time that we are seeing strong growth in cobalt prices and nickel prices show signs of recovery after an extended period of weakness,” said Lennon.