Chinese Online Class - Lafayette plans to ship copper and zinc to China

BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment

Lafayette plans to ship copper and zinc to China

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-01-15 10:41

Australia's Lafayette Mining Ltd plans to ship a total of 2,670 tonnes of
copper and zinc concentrate to China this week and next from its
Rapu-Rapu project in the Philippines, an industry source said on Saturday.

The source said the total included an initial 870 tonnes of copper
concentrate, its first output of the metal from Rapu-Rapu, which a
company spokesman had already said would be shipped.

"Another 1,800 tonnes of copper and zinc concentrate may be shipped next
week, also to China," the source, who asked not to be identified, told
Reuters.

The copper was incidental production from the Rapu-Rapu project during
the test run of the base metals plant last year, before it was forced to
shut in early December due to damage caused by a typhoon. Both shipments
have been sold to South Korean trading firm LG International Corp, the
source said. Horacio Ramos, head of the Philippines' Mines and
Geosciences Bureau, said there was no legal impediment for Lafayette to
sell incidental production from its Rapu-Rapu mine. "They can sell their
production as long as they pay the excise tax," he told Reuters.

The government allowed Lafayette to test its base metals facility
starting July 10 until Dec. 8 last year, after two cyanide spills in
October 2005 that led to a temporary closure.

On Thursday, Lafayette spokesman Bayani Agabin said his firm aims to
reopen Rapu-Rapu in February after getting Philippine regulatory
approval. Typhoon Durian, in late November, toppled electrical poles and
damaged housing facilities for the staff at the mine. But there was no
critical damage to the base metals plant, Agabin said.

The Rapu-Rapu project was the first foreign-owned mine to open after the
Supreme Court upheld in December 2004 the legality of a law granting 100
percent foreign ownership of mining projects, up from 40 percent
previously. But the spills in Rapu-Rapu raised the ire of Philippine
Catholic bishops and environment groups.

Before the suspension, the mine was forecast to generate revenues of $350
million a year from production of 10,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate,
14,000 tonnes of zinc, 50,000 ounces of gold and 600,000 ounces of silver.

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