being commissioned, is on a 5 hectare site only 3km from the port. “The Port of Tanau is a deep-water port that can accommodate 100kt ships, with a potential 80,000t a month capacity. Previously, the port has not had a ship-loading facility, which meant that while Kupang was a region full of high-grade manganese deposits, there was no way to get the ore off the island – in effect they were stranded assets,” Youds said. “The Kupang JV bought a ship-loading facility from Jakarta and installed it at the port and that combined with our production facility gives us the pipeline to get that asset to market.” In July, supply contracts were signed with the Manganese Society of Kupang, which formed the Mn Supply Agreement MoU. The contracts will see 15,000t a month of raw manganese (at a locked price) delivered to the Kupang JV’s processing plant at Bolo. An additional 30,000t a month has also been secured from the Manganese Society at no fixed price or quantity. In total, 52 miners, who are members of the Manganese Society, have signed up to supply, with more to follow. Youds said negotiations were continuing with the Manganese Society to draw up contracts that fixed the price to the grade and quality of the manganese ore. The relationship with the Manganese Society is strengthened by the President of the society having an equity stake in the Kupang JV. The company estimates that current stockpiles are sufficent to allow the local miners to ramp up
for continuous supply. Trial marketing from pilot production has so far been positive for the Kupang JV; the company is intending to direct market to ferro-manganese smelters and send 25kg samples to interested parties, which Youds says are “very interested in large quantities of this new high-grade product”.
Kupang’s processing plant is just 3km from the deep-water Port of Tanau.
As it stands, Kupang does not currently have a resource on its project, but the plan is to kick-off exploration at the end of the CY 2013 when cash flow is expected to step up in line with the export of concentrate and trial marketing. Youds said that althrough initial examination of the geology on the island of Kupang had given a new understanding of the primary manganese mineralisation, further qualitative data collection was required. The company intends to roll out a series of geophysical surveys, followed by a regional wildcat handheld drilling program. Youds said it was early days yet but the possibility existed for a truck-and-shovel operation. With a projected incoming cashflow from concentrate exports, Kupang Resources is considering joint ventures to access existing resources on the island, which will boost product blending and quality control, unlocking otherwise stranded assets. Youds said that many of the stranded assets could benefit from a barging solution to the Kupang deep-water port facility. Cashed up and commissioning, Kupang Resources will soon be turning the tap on its manganese pipeline to the world.
DIRECTORS Jason Brewer Non-Executive Director
Ben Elias Non-Executive Chairman Antony Sage Executive Director
Registered Office 18 Oxford Close West Leederville WA 6007 AUSTRALIA
Contact P: + 61 (0) 8 6382 5500 F: + 61 (0) 8 9388 2304
E: info@kupang.com.au
ASX: KPR www.citation.net.au
THE PICK October 2013
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