PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Gulf Manganese has secured power for its Kupang smelting hub, in Indonesia.
The company has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with State-owned power utility PT PLN for the provision of up to 20 MVA power supply to the Kupang smelting hub facility, in West Timor.
The MoU covers the supply of power to the Kupang facility, and is valid for 12 months from the signing date.
A formal power purchase agreement is expected by the end of December this year.
“The securing of power supply to the Kupang facility is a significant achievement by the business which further de-risks the project’s near term development,” said Gulf MD Hamish Bohannan.
Gulf in September this year inked two ore supply agreements with manganese mining companies in Timor, to secure feedstock to start operations at the Kupang smelting facility, allowing the Kupang start-up to take place in early 2018.
The Kupang smelting hub is expected to contain at least eight furnaces built in stages over five years. At full production, the project would purchase and process 320 000 t/y of manganese ore, producing some 155 000 t/y of premium quality ferromanganese alloy.