Marengo soon to finish study on Yandera plan

MARENGO Mining Ltd said yesterday it expected to complete its bankable feasibility study on the proposed US$1.8 billion Yandera copper-molybdenum project by the middle of this year.
In its December quarterly report released yesterday, Marengo said a new resource estimate will be published during the current quarter with advanced metallurgical test work now underway in China and Australia.
Fourteen bulk samples had been sent to China for flotation testing to assess the potential for recovery of copper concentrates.
A 45-tonne sample from the Gremi zone was also ready for processing in Perth.
Recent infill drilling results at four orebodies located at Yandera, which was not far from the Ramu nickel-cobalt mine, had come up with very wide intersections of relatively high grade assays.
Among them, Gremi had 732m averaging 0.53% copper equivalent; Imbruminda 166m averaging 0.88% copper equivalent; Dimbi 318m at 0.54% copper equivalent and Omora 146m at 0.48% copper equivalent.
Marengo, which had a cash balance of A$34.6 million at the end of the quarter, intended to continue with its regional exploration programme during the current year.
The quarterly report said Marengo’s board of management and its senior management visited Papua New Guinea during the quarter and were pleased at the level of community support for the project.
The company hoped to build and commission the mine, one of the largest undeveloped copper-molybdenum deposits in the Asia-Pacific, by 2015.
The deposit, 95km south west of Madang, was expected to host an initial 25 million tonnes a year mining operation with a potential to double production at a later stage for a 20-year mine life.