PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Manganese miner OM Holdings (OMH) has secured a power purchase agreement for its Sarawak alloy smelting project, in Malaysia.

Under the agreement, the Sarawak project would have access to some 500 MW of power over an initial 20-year period, with a fixed annual price escalation rate, underpinning the project within the lowest-cost quartile production of 300 000 t of manganese ferroalloys and 300 000 t of ferrosilicon alloys.

“We are in the process of building one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost silicon-based ferroalloy smelters in the world,” said OMH executive chairperson Low Ngee Tong.

“The project’s silocon manganese production will be supported by several key components. These include the integrated ore supply from Australia providing a life-of-mine operational synergy for the company’s Bootu Creek mine, which benefits from its close proximity to Sarawak, as well as its unique ore grade characteristics making it particularly suitable for the production of silico manganese alloys,” he added.

Further benefits include future ore supply from the Tshipi Borwa project, in South Africa, a highly competitive cost structure and the project’s geographical proximity to key Asian markets and customers.

OMH in November last year approved the development of the $501-million Sarawak project, with construction expected to start in the third quarter of 2013.

Production from the smelting project would start no later than the first quarter of 2014, with full commercial production expected in the second quarter of 2015.
 

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