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Phu Bia maintains output despite storm
Phu Bia Mining, one of the largest miners in Laos, has not suffered any downturn in annual production despite being in the path of tropical storm Haima, according to its parent company.
“The 2011 production and cost guidance remains unchanged at between 62,000 tonnes and 65,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate,” Pan Aust announced on its website yesterday.
According to Pan Aust, the parent company of Lao Phu Bia Mining, which operates the Phou Kham copper mine in Vientiane province, the project and surrounding area received over 400mm of rain from tropical storm Haima from June 24 to 26.
The heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding and infrastructure damage across the region but resulted in the loss of only two days of concentrate production, Pan Aust says.
Roads to the Phu Kham operation stayed open and concentrate trucking has resumed and returned to normal volumes over the weekend, with scheduled shipments of copper to foreign markets unaffected by the disruption.
Pan Aust says the Phu Kham copper mine operation is designed to withstand high rainfall and a rapid return to normal operations has been executed across most elements of the project.
The integrity of the operation was unaffected; only one injury requiring medical treatment was sustained and there were no breaches of environmental discharge regulations.
The storm claimed several lives and caused land slips, damage to bridges and village homes and infrastructure. The PanAust Asia management team and employees responded rapidly and effectively to alleviate logistical issues and to work with local villages and government to provide aid to local communities.
PanAust also announced that drilling to the immediate north of Phu Kham and at the Long C hieng Track Prospect, about six kilometres north-west of Phu Kham, has intersected mineralisation that may support extension of the mine life or provide opportunity for further expansion of operations within Phu Kham district.
High-grade copper-gold mineralisation has been intersected about 200 metres north of the Phu Kham copper-gold deposit, the company says.
In 2010 Phu Bia Mining paid about US$39 million in royalties and taxes to the Lao government, rising from US$12 million in 2009 due to increased production and copper and gold prices. In 2010 Phu Bia Mining's Phu Kham operation produced over 67,000 tonnes of copper, 60,000 ounces of gold and 500,000 ounces of silver.
The company now employs about 2,000 full-time employees, 85 percent of whom are Lao nationals.
vientiane times
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