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On behalf of the board and employees of
Finders Resources, thank you for your continued support of our company, and
may 2008 be prosperous for us all.
December and January have been extremely busy times
for the Finders Team, and we would like to take this opportunity to bring you
up to date on key items. Several announcements have been made to the ASX and
AIM markets:
- Key Project Milestones Achieved, Wetar
Project
- Completion
of Financing
- Broker Research Reports
- Shareholding Changes
1. Key Project Milestones Achieved, Wetar Project
Highlights
Finders Resources� definitive
feasibility study to asses 20-25,000t per year copper cathode production at
the Wetar Copper project, is progressing according to schedule with the
following key project milestones achieved for the Kali Kuning Demonstration
Plant:
� Major capital
items ordered: first equipment shipment has departed for site by landing
craft.
�
Key operational staff appointed.
�
Receipt of principal permits.
Finders� is targeting copper cathode production
from a 5tpd SX-EW plant from June 2008.
All key elements of engineering design work for the test heaps and
demonstration plant have been completed, enabling the company to issue orders
for capital items in a timely fashion; such as the rectifier, anodes and
cathodes, which have longer lead times.
Plant and equipment for the development will be mobilised to the project area
in two main shipments, the first of which departed Surabaya on January 17th. This
shipment includes contract earthmoving equipment, generators and fuel and water
tanks. Initial work will focus on road refurbishment, environmental
protection measures and construction of the heap pad area.
The Company has expanded its senior project team with experienced
appointments in key disciplines. The technical team for the project is now
largely in place.
�
Mine Superintendant
�
Construction Supervisor
�
Processing Superintendant
�
Purchasing Supervisor
�
Environmental Officer
On the 4th January 2008, the Company received notification that the
Environment Impact Control Committee (BAPEDALDA) of Maluku had approved the
Company�s environmental
management and control plans (UKL/URL) for the demonstration plant after
review by the provincial AMDAL commission on December 12th
2007.
On the 14th January 2008, further permits for a 100,000t bulk sample and
pilot-scale processing were received from the Regency of Maluku Tenggara
Barat.
Managing Director, Chris Farmer said:
�The first
shipment of equipment to Wetar marks the start of an exciting phase for the
Company as we make the transition towards being a copper producer. Our
ability to hire quality staff in a highly competitive market is a strong
endorsement of both the project quality and Finders� corporate culture.
With the principal permits in place, we remain on track to meet our targets
for copper production and look forward to reporting the outcomes of a very
busy year ahead for us we attempt to build a profitable project which has
tangible benefits for all stakeholders�
2. Completion
of A$15.8 million Financing
Finders Resources Limited (�Finders�) is pleased to advise of the completion of
its previously announced financing arrangement with metals trading company,
Tennant Metals Pty Ltd and its associated shareholder,
Meridian International Capital Limited, by the issue of a total of 5,165,339
shares at A$1.10 per share (raising A$5.68 million), and the provision of a
secured loan facility for US$5.0 million.
This transaction, together with the recent placement of 4 million shares at
A$1.10 per share (raising A$4.4 million) arranged by Southern Cross Equities,
completes the A$15.8 million financing, which will be used to construct the
Wetar Copper Project�s
demonstration plant (expected capital cost of US$6.25 million) and to provide
the company with additional working capital.
Finders Executive Chairman Dr Russell Fountain said:
�Completion of this
financing during a period of market uncertainty is a major success for
Finders, and leaves the company in a very strong financial position to take
advantage of strong copper prices as we benefit from the 5 tonne per day
copper cathode demonstration plant coming on stream mid year and move towards
the completion of a definitive feasibility study at Wetar by year end.�
3.
Broker Research Reports
In December John Macdonald of Greeen Leader Equities
Research completed and published a Brokers Report on the Company. This report
can be viewed by click ing here:
http://www.greenleader.com.au/framework/documents/frame.asp?doc=529.pdf
Hoodless Brennan have also included Finders in their
AIM Mining Companies Review. A copy of this doscumnet can be downloaded from:
http://www.hoodlessbrennan.com/stock-research-prices/mining-review/
4. Shareholding Changes
As a consequence of the recently undertaken fund
raising and share placements Finders has been required to make several
statutory reports to the ASX. Copies of these reports are available from the
ASX website, and shortly will also be available from the companies website.
For further information please contact:
Finders Resources Ltd:
Russell Fountain, Executive Chairman, +61 (0) 2 9211 8299
Chris Farmer, Managing Director, cbf@findersresources.com
Financial PR:
Doug Macdonald, +61 (0) 424 255 959, Capital Group (in Australia)
Paddy Blewer or Nick Elwes, 020 7457 2020, College Hill (in the UK)
RFC Corporate Finance Ltd (Finders� Nominated Adviser for the AIM market):
Rob Adamson, +61 (0)2 9250 0000
Stuart Laing, +61 (0)8 9480 2506, stuartl@rfc.com.au
Competent Person Statement
The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration
Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the �JORC Code�) sets out minimum standards,
recommendations and guidelines for Public Reporting in Australasia of Exploration
Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. The information contained in
this announcement has been presented in accordance with the JORC Code and
references to �Indicated�
and �Inferred Resources� are to those terms as defined in the JORC Code.
Geological and Mineral Resource information in this announcement is based on
information compiled by Dr R Fountain who is a Fellow of the Australasian
Institute of Geoscientists and a Director of Finders. Dr Fountain has
sufficient experience that is relevant to the styles of mineralisation and
types of deposits under consideration and to the activity that he is
undertaking to qualify as Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code. He
consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his
information in the form and context in which they appear.
Statements by Finders Resources Ltd
Geological information in this announcement is based on information
compiled by Dr R Fountain who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of
Geoscientists and a Director of Finders. Dr Fountain has sufficient
experience that is relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of
deposits under consideration and to the activity that he is undertaking to
qualify as Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code. He consents to the
inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the
form and context in which they appear.
Statements in this document that are forward-looking and involve numerous
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from expected results are based on the Company�s current beliefs and assumptions regarding a large number of factors affecting its
business. Actual results may differ materially from expected results. There
can be no assurance that (i) the Company has correctly measured or identified
all of the factors affecting its business or the extent of their likely
impact, (ii) the publicly available information with respect to these factors
on which the Company�s analysis is based is complete or accurate, (iii) the Company�s
analysis is correct or (iv) the Company�s strategy, which is based in part on this analysis, will be successful.
Background
Finders, listed on AIM and ASX, is the operator of the Wetar Copper (~73% and
earning), and Ojolali Gold-Silver Projects (72% with option) in Indonesia,
and holds an investment in Geopacific Resources NL, an ASX-listed company
with active exploration programs for gold and copper in Fiji.
At the Wetar Copper Project, Finders has
previously announced Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources at a 0.5%
copper cut-off grade, of 9.8 million tonnes at 2.5% copper for 248,000 tonnes
contained copper in two deposits, Kali Kuning and Lerokis. The company is
planning to develop an open cut heap leach SX-EW copper mining operation to
produce 20-25,000 tonnes of cathode copper per year from mid 2009. A key component of
the feasibility study for this project is the construction of a
semi-commercial scale test heap and pilot plant, designed to produce 5 tonnes
per day of copper cathode from July 2008, with an estimated capital cost of
US$6.25 million.
At the Ojolali Project, Finders has
previously announced Inferred Resources at the Jambi Oxide gold deposit (3.2
Mt @ 1.0 g/t Au, 6.9 g/t Ag at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off, and including mining
dilution) and Inferred Resources at the Tambang Prospect (7.9 Mt @ 167g/t Ag
and 0.7 g/t Au at a 1 g/t Au equivalent cut-off using drilling data from a
previous explorer).
Finders� believes that the Ojolali project has
strong potential to generate short-term cash flow through open pit CIL/CIP
development of the gold resource at the Jambi
Oxide gold deposit. Other prospects have outstanding potential for the
discovery of additional resources using modern geophysical techniques to
optimize drill targeting.
For further information on results previously reported and a full resource
statement please visit our website www.findersresources.com
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