The demand for tantalum seems to be developing the way Noventa (LON:NVTA) expected when it decided to restart the Marropino mine in Mozambique in April.
The company today announced the third successful shipment of tantalum from the mine, which means that shipments have been made to both its major customers since the restart.
The shipment of 8,000 kilograms (kg) of tantalum is due to leave the port of Nacala in northern Mozambique for North America on or around 11 November 2010.
In yet more good news, Noventa reported the repayment of an approximate further circa US$270,000 of IVA, the Mozambique value added tax (VAT).
“I am delighted that we have now made shipments to both our major customers since production was restarted and our refunds of IVA are proceeding,” said chairman of Noventa Eric Kohn.
Last month, Noventa said that its Marropino and Morrua mines are capable of producing an estimated 6.21 million pounds of tantalum over a 9.3 year life-span of the two operations.
The figure was contained in the latest technical report issued by the Mozambique-focused group, which also revealed that it would process 13.27 million tonnes (Mt) of ore at an average grade of 384 parts per million (ppm), which would give a total recovery of 63.76%.
The report put the indicated resource at Marropino alone at 7.4 Mt grading 223 ppm tantalum for 3.64 million pounds of tantalum contained. Noventa says it has sufficient tax loss provisions to eliminate income taxes through to 2016.
In August, Noventa revealed that Marropino’s redevelopment has made rapid progress with tantalum recovery increasing significantly over historic levels, reaching 51%.
During the same month, the company made a tantalum discovery, which was then confirmed by independent assays.
Furthermore, production output from the mine has also been higher than expected, which enabled the company to dispatch the first shipment of tantalum to one of the company’s two key customers ahead of schedule.
Cash generation between 2011 and 2013 is anticipated to be around US$20 million with cash margins expected to exceed 33% by 2013.