BNamericas quoted Mr Paul Blythe CEO of Vancouver based Quadra Mining as saying that expects its Franke copper mine in Chile's region II to start producing in Q3.

In April 2009, Quadra took over the operator of Franke, Centenario Copper, in an all stock transaction. Centenario had been suffering financing obstacles but with the backing of Quadra the project now has a clear start date. However, the project's need for large amounts of sulfuric acid remains its Achilles' heel.

Mr Blythe said that "I think the biggest issue at Franke is that it is a very high acid consumer and obviously that weighed on our minds when we made the acquisition. It uses 10 times as much acid as Quadra's US mine Carlota. It uses about 50 kilogram per tonne of ore."

He added that a pivotal factor in Quadra's decision to take over Centenario was that it had reached an agreement with Chile's state-owned copper company Codelco to provide 50% of Franke's acid needs. He said that "That is an issue that we have been working on since then, with a view of securing as much acid as we can on a long term basis going forward."

Franke is slated to produce some 30,000 tonnes per annum in copper cathode. Quadra owns the Sierra Gorda copper project nearby in region II.

(Sourced from www.bnamericas.com)