Production stoppage at hydrogen plant due to catalyst failure / Bioheapleaching progressing ahead of budget
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE11 February 2010 at 6:00 am UK / 8:00 am Finland Production stoppage at hydrogen plant due to catalyst failure Bioheapleaching progressing ahead of budgetTalvivaara Mining Company Plc ("Talvivaara" or the "Company") announces that aproduction stoppage in metals recovery is ongoing due to a catalyst failure atthe hydrogen plant. This is anticipated to defer, depending on the eventuallength of the stoppage, around 1,000 tonnes or more of the planned nickelproduction from Q1 2010 until later in the year. Talvivaara's operations arecovered by customary insurance policies against property damage and businessinterruption.Talvivaara's operating personnel detected elevated temperatures in some of thehydrogen plant's reform tubes at the end of January 2010. Following consultationwith the manufacturer, the plant was shut down for inspection and to avoidfurther damage. Subsequent investigations revealed that the sudden increase intemperature was caused by impurities in the propane that was used as the rawmaterial for hydrogen production. The high temperatures, in turn, damaged thecatalyst in the reform tubes. It was concluded that, as a corrective measure,all of the catalyst inside the reform tubes had to be replaced.New catalyst material has now been delivered at the mine site and is beinginstalled. Re-start of the hydrogen plant and the Company's metals precipitationis anticipated to take place by the end of next week.The Company believes that some or all of the production deferred as a result ofthe hydrogen plant failure can be caught up during Q2 2010 thanks to recentbioheapleaching performance which has exceeded the budgeted levels by more than20%. In December 2009 and January 2010, nickel grade in the solution fed to themetals recovery plant remained around 1.2 g/l, reflecting a large proportion ofthe heap being newly stacked and still precipitating rather than releasingmetals. Following completion of stacking of the second heap section in earlyJanuary 2010, all of the existing heap is now reaching a steady leaching phaseand the nickel grade in solution available for metals recovery has quickly risento 1.8 g/l. The increase in grade being achieved supports the Company's viewthat it can obtain the higher rates of recovery required to reach the existing2010 production target. The Company will continue monitoring and reporting theprogress in the bioheapleaching process and the development of productionvolumes against the given guidance.Enquiries:Talvivaara Mining Company Plc tel. +358 20 712 9800Pekka Per?CEOSaila Miettinen-L?e, CFOAbout Talvivaara Mining Company plcTalvivaara Mining Company aims to become an internationally significant basemetals producer with its primary focus on nickel and zinc using a technologyknown as bioheapleaching to extract metals out of ore. Bioheapleaching makesextraction of metals from low grade ore economically viable. The Talvivaaradeposits comprise one of the largest known sulphide nickel resources in Europe.The ore body is sufficient to support anticipated production for at least 46years. Talvivaara has secured a 10-year off-take agreement for 100 per cent ofits main output of nickel and cobalt to Norilsk Nickel and signed a long-termzinc streaming agreement with Nyrstar NV. Talvivaara is listed on the LondonStock Exchange Main Market and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki and is included in the FTSE250 Index. Further information can be found at www.talvivaara.com.[HUG#1383260]
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Datum: 11.02.2010 - 01:08 Uhr
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