Rusina Mining NL said that the heap leach trial at the Acoje nickel project in the Philippines is now mechanically complete and 3,000 tonnes of laterite ore is in the process of being crushed for the pad.

It added that construction continues on a steel roof structure to house the downstream Resin in Pulp Ion Exchange facility which is scheduled to be operational late in 2009.

It may be noted that China Tianchen Engineering Corporation has recently completed the re costing of the pre feasibility study using Chinese construction and material costs. Overall they believe they could reduce the capital costs by 15%. TCC will now be appointed to complete the DFS engineering study commencing in October 2009.

Environmental permitting for the full scale heap leach is well underway with the environmental impact assessment already submitted and all requisite permits to construct expected to be completed by November 2009, well ahead of the anticipated disruption of the 2010 presidential elections.

Rusina Mining's cash balance at the end of the quarter was AUD 3.01 million as compared to AUD 4.4 million at the end of the prior quarter.

(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk)