Frontier Mining confirmed that it has completed a deal to acquire additional land near the Benkala copper mine in Kazakhstan. The land hosts the South Benkala deposit which is estimated to contain 609,600 tonnes of copper.

The deal was originally agreed in May last year and Frontier confirmed that it has now been approved by the Kazakh authorities. Frontier has now paid USD 2.5 million to the vendor PromSnab2030 LLP and the acquisition is now complete.

South Benkala is located 10 kilometers south of the existing Benkala operation. Frontier plans to incorporate South Benkala’s copper reserve into its current Benkala project development. This will see the life of the mine’s SX EW plant which is currently being built extend from seven to eleven years.

Or alternatively South Benkala’s oxide resources may expand Benkala’s production capacity from 20,000 tonnes to 30,000 tonnes of cathode copper per year. Earlier this month Frontier unveiled a new USD 29 million financing arrangement that will help support the development of the Benkala mine.

Plant commission work began at Benkala last month following an official opening ceremony. The final approval on all construction and infrastructure is expected shortly.

Once the mine is established Frontier plans to expand production, taking it up from 7,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes per year and later expanding to 20,000 tonnes a year.

Mr John Meyer mining analyst at City broker Fairfax said that "This is a significant addition to the Benkala copper project and should add meaningful value to the mine and to the company. The firm had recently agreed a financing package for the expansion of the Benkala mine to 20,000 tonne per annum of copper.

He said that the mine started commissioning in mid December and news of new production is expected shortly following the official opening of the mine last week at the 7,000 tonne per annum.

(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk)