PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Manganese miner OM Holdings (OMH) has reported record annual manganese production of 902 082 t at its Bootu Creek operation, in the Northern Territory.

The operation also reported record annual shipments of 961 470 t during during the year ended December.

In the three months to December, the Bootu Creek operation produced some 223 511 t, at an average grade of 36.4% manganese. During the quarter under review, shipments reached 239 126 t.

OMH said in its quarterly report that improved plant availability rates and higher feed grade ore supply from the Masai deposit enabled extended periods of optimised operating efficiencies, mass yields and metal recoveries to be achieved throughout the year.

This was consistent with a yearly production rate of around one-million tons.

OMH said on Tuesday that first quarter production for Bootu Creek was estimated at around 210 000 t.

The miner noted that the current record high Chinese imported manganese ore demand environment, along with a near-record low high-grade ore benchmark price, has required the Bootu Creek operations strategy for 2012 to be further optimised, to efficiently achieve budgeted production targets at lower operating costs.

OMH said that for 2012, the Bootu Creek mine’s operating strategy would now center around low cost, low strip ratio mining, focused on accessing previously prestripped high-grade ore deposits using a single mining fleet.

The mine’s production target for 2012 would be between 850 000 t and 900 000 t, supported by continued strong demand for the mine’s products in the Chinese market, as well as an ability to immediately respond to changing market conditions during the year.

The revised strategy would ensure a solid operating platform during the current price environment, while allowing maximum production flexibility once the global manganese market conditions improve, the company said.

At the company’s Qinzhou operations, in China, OMH also achieved a production record of 73 838 t of high carbon ferromanganese for the full year, representing a 100% increase over the 2010 production.

During the December quarter, production at Qinzhou reached 21 809 t, the record since the plant was commissioned in 2004.

Manganese sinter production for the December quarter reached 74 385 t, with 255 655 t produced during the full year, representing a 147% increase year-on-year.

Meanwhile, OMH also on Tuesday reported that production from its recently approved Ferro Alloy Smelting Plant, in Sarawak, was expected in the first quarter of 2014, with full commercial capacity scheduled for the second quarter of 2015.

In November, OMH approved the $501-million project, following the completion of a definitive feasibility study. The project entails the development of a greenfield manganese and ferrosilicon alloy smelter with an annual production capacity of 600 000 t.

The conceptual engineering design for the plant has been completed, and engineering works were expected to start in the second quarter of this year.
 

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