Murrin Murrin Joint Venture

Murrin Murrin
Location
Murrin Murrin
Location in Australia
Location Laverton
State Western Australia
Country Australia
Coordinates 28°50′59″S 121°50′34″E / 28.849786°S 121.842842°E / -28.849786; 121.842842Coordinates: 28°50′59″S 121°50′34″E / 28.849786°S 121.842842°E / -28.849786; 121.842842
Production
Products Nickel
Cobalt
Production Nickel: 30,514 t
Cobalt: 2,018 t
Financial year 2008
History
Opened 1999
Owner
Company Minara Resources (60%)
Glencore (40%)
Website Minara website
Glencore website

The Murrin Murrin Joint Venture is a major nickel-cobalt mining operation being conducted in the North Eastern Goldfields, approximately 45 km east of Leonora, Western Australia. The Project was a joint venture between Murrin Murrin Holdings Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Minara Resources Ltd (whose share is 60%) and Glenmurrin Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Glencore International AG, which had a 40% share but also owned 70% of Minara. As of November 2011, Minara Resources was fully acquired and is now wholly owned by Glencore International.[1] The mine opened in 1999.[2]

Geology

Murrin Murrin mines a laterite nickel ore formed by deep weathering of a peridotite ultramafic rock.

Problems with the Murrin Murrin process plant

Significant problems and delays were encountered in the design, construction and commissioning of the ore process plant at Murrin Murrin [3]

The designers, Fluor Daniel eventually had to pay the joint venture partners A$155 million in an out of court settlement. It was their second successful claim against Fluor, Murrin Murrin owners having been awarded $147 million from the first phase of their claim against Fluor, a sum which ultimately was reduced to $39.8 million. The Murrin Murrin project's original cost estimate of $1 billion had blown out $1.6 billion.[4]

Production

Production of the mine:

Year Nickel Cobalt
2000 [2] 13,027 t 904 t
2001 [2] 25,991 t 1,253 t
2002 [2] 30,009 t 1,838 t
2003
2004 [5] 27,950 t 1,982 t
2005 [5] 28,240 t 1,750 t
2006 [5] 31,524 t 2,096 t
2007 [5] 27,585 t 1,884 t
2008 [5] 30,514 t 2,018 t
2009

See also

Sources

References

  1. Glencore mops up Minara Resources takeover, The Australian, October 14, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 The Australian Mines Handbook: 2003-2004 Edition, page: 39
  3. Nedeljkovic, Zoran. (1998) Andrew Forrest : a key to Murrin Murrin's past and future Mining chronicle (West Perth, W.A.) Late June 1998, p. 6
  4. Minara handed $155m for Murrin mine fiasco The Sydney Morning Herald, published: 6 May 2004, accessed: 10 September 2009
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 2008 MRE Annual report

External links


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