Proactiveinvestors Australia

Finders Resources anticipates first copper production in January

Monday, December 22, 2008 by Ian Mclelland

Finders Resources, the precious and base metals exploration and development company operating in Indonesia , delivered good news to investors just in time for the holidays.

Finders Resources is the operator of the Wetar Project and Ojolali Gold-Silver  Projects, and holds an investment in Geopacific Resources, an ASX-listed company with  active exploration programs for  gold and copper in Fiji.

The company has been focused on completing a demonstration plant at the Wetar Copper Project, and announced today that commissioning was finally completed, and production of the first copper cathode is anticipated in "two to three weeks" from 24 December, 2008, when irrigation of the stacked ore will begin.

Finders also reported that it had upgraded the resource estimates for the Kali Kuning and Lerokis massive sulphide deposits, with more than 98% of the resource now in the indicated and measured categories. The combined resource estimate for Kali Kuning and Lerokis, at a 0.5% copper cut-off, now stands at 9 million tonnes at 2.4% copper, or 218,000 tonnes of contained copper.  The majority of the resource is also expected to be upgraded to an ore reserve once additional mine planning and feasibility work are complete.

Furthermore, Finders reported additional metallurgical test work from the transitional mineralisation.  Preliminary results were "very encouragaing" with 57% recoveries within 13 days.

"These  results  are  significant  for  the  expansion project, since  the  SX-EW  plant  is  likely  to  achieve  nameplate capacity much  faster  than  previously  expected  due  to  the  fast leaching nature of the Transition mineralisation," the company said.


Chris Farmer, Managing Director of Finders Resouces, said the establishment of the demonstration plant was a major milestone for the Company:

"We now believe  that the  logistical and supply  delays relating  to establishing the Wetar demonstration plant are largely behind us. The commencement of stacking  of the heaps  represents a major  milestone towards copper production at Wetar.

We see the  new Indonesian  Mining Law as  a positive  for the  Wetar project,  and  our  work  to  date  has  been  carried  out  on   the understanding that the new Mining  Law was likely to be  implemented. Despite the current low copper price, the Directors believe that the Wetar copper  project's grade  and cost  structure will  continue  to justify its early  development.  This  will make  us one  of the  few junior  miners  with  prospects   in  exploration,  development   and
production."

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