London Mining in line with its disclosure at the recently concluded SLIEPA Trade and Investment Forum, made public on December 2nd 2011 that its Marampa Phase 1a plant production ramp up has started and a concentrate validating plant design specification of 65% Fe and 3.5% silica has been produced.

The iron ore miner armed with a five year off take deal with Glencore International to sell 1.8 million tonnes a year of iron ore said in an official media release that the concentrate specification is expected to allow marketing into Europe with production capacity expected to increase by 11% to 4 million tonnes per annum based on further plant optimization.

London Mining also disclosed that capital expenditure for Phase 1 increased by 11% to USD 234 million from USD 210 million, revealing that it has appointed Bateman Engineering to undertake Phase 2a expansion Bankable Feasibility Studies BFS, which it said is due for completion in Q2 2012. First export from Sierra Leone is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.

The ore developer said it recorded USD 25 million funds from sale of DMC and USD 19 million lease finance agreement signed to fund purchase and commissioning of Pride of Marampa transshipment vessel also revealing that it has received first off take prepayment from Glencore. The iron ore developer will receive USD 27 million from Glencore at the end of January as part of the agreement.

The company according to its CEO expects to start realizing profits in 2012. However no dividend will be paid to its shareholders. London Mining plans to invest the money it earns on expanding the Marampa project to 1.8 million tonnes of iron ore next year and to 4 million tonnes in 2013. It said it will need USD 65 million to expand annual output to 4 million tonnes. The company also estimates an additional investment of about USD 660 million to reach a 12 million tonnes capacity.

(Sourced from www.awoko.org)