Mar 16 2015
Mindoro Resources Ltd. today announced that Agata Mining Ventures Inc. ("AMVI"), a joint venture company in which Mindoro holds a 40% interest, completed its sixth and seventh shipments of high-iron/low nickel direct shipping ore ("DSO") in January and February 2015 from its Agata DSO operations located in northern Mindanao, the Philippines.
In accordance with off-take arrangements with Tewoo Hoperay (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., 49,234 wet metric tonnes ("WMT") of limonite ore containing 0.88% nickel and 48.48% iron left the port of Payong-Payong in Agusan del Norte, Mindanao, on January 28, 2015, and 55,400 WMT containing 0.88% nickel and 48.47% iron left the port on February 7, 2015.
AMVI expects to receive gross revenue of US$615,000 and US$693,000, respectively, for the January and February shipments (pending final assay and price adjustments).
Production in January and February was hampered by extreme weather conditions which brought an extraordinary amount of rainfall to the operations area and limited production to just two shipments of high-iron/low nickel limonite ore. AMVI currently expects to complete three shipments of limonite ore during March and commenced loading one shipment on March 6.
In addition to the limonite DSO, in order to secure higher selling prices, AMVI had planned to make a shipment of higher grade nickel saprolite during February (as announced in news on November 26, 2014). However, due to continuous wet weather conditions, additional drying time is required to meet buyer specifications and AMVI now expects shipments of saprolite DSO will commence in April.
AMVI continues to ramp up its DSO operations with the goal of shipping over 2.5 million wmt in 2015. In order to achieve this goal, AMVI expects to increase its shipment schedule to four shipments of limonite ore per month and at least one to two shipments of saprolite per month, once causeway expansion and stockpile area development work has been completed.
About the Agata DSO Project
The Agata DSO project is held by Agata Mining Ventures Inc. ("AMVI"), a joint venture company owned 40% by Mindoro and 60% by TVI Resource Development (Phils.), Inc., who is operator of the project.
The Agata DSO Project is located in Agusan del Norte province, within the Surigao mining region on the island of Mindanao, Philippines. The Surigao region is a major lateritic nickel producing region providing ore to processing plants in Australia, China, Korea and Japan. The Agata DSO Project is well located and is expected to benefit from its deep protected seaport, the opportunity for year-round shipping and its proximity to main markets in Asia.
An initial offtake agreement was signed by AMVI in June 2014 with Tewoo Hoperay (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. ("Tewoo") for the sale of one million wet metric tonnes of high-iron/low nickel limonite DSO, and a second agreement was signed in August 2014 to sell 500,000 wet metric tonnes. Advance payments of US$3 million have been received by AMVI against both agreements to fund initial operating costs. These advance payments are being offset on a per wet metric tonne basis over time.
As announced in news on November 26, 2014, in order to secure higher selling prices, AMVI plans to mine higher the grade saprolite material containing greater than 1.5% nickel, found in the deeper part of the nickel laterite orebody. An offtake agreement was signed by AMVI with Tewoo on December 15, 2014, to make two shipments in 2015, each containing 55,000 wet metric tonnes saprolite DSO.
Following the shipment of the higher nickel grade saprolite, AMVI plans to mine and make shipments consisting of both low and high grade limonite and saprolite in order to ensure that a blended higher selling price is obtained.
An NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate released on April 10, 2013 shows the Agata DSO project to have reported Proven and Probable Reserves of 9.7 million wet metric tonnes with a grade of 48% Fe with 0.9% Ni. The report is available for viewing on http://www.sedar.com and www.mindoro.com.
Source: http://www.mindoro.com/