:: Sepon Copper Expansion Project Awarded

Bateman Engineering has been notified by Oxiana Limited of its intent to award the Company’s joint venture with Ausenco Limited, known as KDG JV, the EPCM contract for the planned US$178 million expansion of the Sepon Copper Project in Laos. Bateman Engineering’s interest in the joint venture is 30 %.

Bateman Engineering and Oxiana conducted the definitive feasibility study in 2002 and the KDG JV was awarded the engineering and design work for the US$240 million Sepon Copper operation in January 2003. The contract was completed in March 2005 and was awarded the R.W. Hawken Engineering Excellence Award for Resource Development. The expansion will include a larger new primary crusher, an additional 8 counter-current decantation (CCD) tank train, commensurate leaching capacity additions and 24 new electro-winning cells and will increase plant production to 80,000 t/yr.

The Sepon Copper project is based on mining from the high grade Khanong deposit and uses a two-step leaching process that recovers more than 90 % of the copper in the ore. The operation processes 1.3 million t/yr of chalcocite-clay run-of-mine (ROM) ore to produce 60,000 t/yr of LME grade A cathodes.