Highlands Pacific denies reports of slurry pipeline closure

Highlands Pacific has denied reports that the slurry pipeline connecting the mine and process plant at the controversial Ramu nickel cobalt mine in Madang had been shut, reports The National.

Highlands Pacific managing director John Gooding said yesterday reports circulated on a PNG mining blog site that the slurry pipeline connecting the mine and process plant had been shut were untrue.

“Such inaccurate reports are false and extremely frustrating,” Gooding said.
“Such articles on these websites are often mischievous, misleading and not based on facts.”

Gooding said the company’s announcements through the Australian Stock Exchange, Port Moresby Stock Exchange and the reputable media were the best avenues for factual information regarding this world-class mine.

“The issue with the movement in the slurry pipeline occurred some months ago due to a landslide and work in preventing further landslides has been ongoing as have inspections by PNG regulatory authorities,” Gooding said.

He said the mine was continuing with load commissioning of the first of three autoclave circuits.

“The mine started treating ore through one of the three high pressure autoclaves on March 4, and has now been operating continuously for six weeks with no major processing issues. During that time, the process plant has treated 300,000 tonnes of slurried ore producing 486 tonnes of mixed nickel cobalt hydroxide intermediate product”.

Gooding said this was a very good start for the project although there was still a long way to go to reach the goal of full ramp-up.

“The successful operation of the first autoclave has given the commissioning team a lot of very useful information and confidence that will assist with the start of the second and third autoclaves,” he said.
“By the end of this month, the autoclave currently operating is planned to be shut down for inspection and the second autoclave circuit started while working with approval from and in conjunction with the relevant PNG regulatory authorities. This shut down and start up will occur at the same time to ensure continuity of production”.