PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Gulf Mines on Wednesday reported that Indonesian manganese group Asia Minerals Corporation would ship its first cargo of manganese from West Timor during May this year.
Gulf was looking to acquire a 20% interest in Asia Minerals, by way of a share and option exchange with Leprechaun Holdings.
Gulf noted that with the manganese shipment in May, Asia Minerals would become the first group to export bulk manganese under the new export requirements. The cargo of 10 000 t would be the first of the company’s government-approved quota of 160 000 t for 2013/14.
Asia Minerals, through its subsidiary Asia Mangan, is the only approved trading exporter of manganese ore in Indonesia. The company has established a processing plant to consolidate manganese ore from local shallow mining operations into 10 000 t bulk shipments for transport and export.