International copper board, smelter customers visit mine

MEMBERS of the International Copper Association Australia (ICAA) board and representatives of Ok Tedi Mining Ltd’s (OTML) smelter customers visited the operations last week to gain first-hand understanding of the company’s mining and processing operations.
Ok Tedi’s executive management team led by managing director and chief executive officer Peter Graham presented an overview of the business to the visitors last Tuesday, soon after their arrival in Tabubil on a special Ok Tedi chartered flight from Cairns, Australia.
“Ok Tedi has shared a long-standing relationship with our smelter customers for many years,” Graham said.
“This visit has further strengthened our relationship with our customers and we look forward to continuing these mutually beneficial ties into the future.
“We also had the honour of hosting the ICAA board on their first visit to our operations, which for Ok Tedi is quite important as our main product is copper concentrate.”
OTML’s deputy CEO and general manager external relations Musje Werror, who is also chairman of the Ok Tedi Development Foundation, made a presentation to the ICAA board covering Ok Tedi’s social and community obligations, and the work of OTDF in the mine associated communities.
Graham and OTML’s general manager commercial Cameron Clark accompanied smelter customer representatives to Ok Tedi’s Kiunga operations, where the visitors were briefed about the Kiunga operations and later showed around the plant by Kiunga operations manager Hillary Turnamur and senior staff.
The ICAA board and smelter representatives were taken on a tour of the mine the following day where they visited the mine lookout giving them a bird’s eye view of the operations, the mine rebuild site and maintenance workshop.
They made a brief visit to the crusher relocation project site, followed by a tour of the processing plant and processing metallurgy and analytical laboratories.
“The organisation for the visit and the interaction with many of the Ok Tedi mine executives and workers showed what an incredible company they have become,” ICAA chief executive John Fennell said.
Similarly, Taisun Choi, vice-president of Raw Materials Division, LS – Nikko Copper (Korea), one of Ok Tedi’s smelter customers, also expressed gratitude for the invitation to visit the mine.