Inmet Mining Announces Award of Cobre Panama Basic Engineering & Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EP+CM) Services Contract to Joint Venture Led by SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 11/08/10 -- Inmet Mining Corporation ('Inmet') (TSX: IMN) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, Minera Panama S.A. (MPSA) has awarded a contract to Joint Venture Panama Inc. (JVP), a joint venture led by SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (70%) with partners GyM S.A. (a member of Grana y Montero Group) (15%) and Techint International Construction Corp. (15%), to provide basic engineering for the Cobre Panama project. The award to JVP recognizes the expertise of each party to the joint venture led by SNC-Lavalin, one of the world's leading engineering and construction groups. This award is the outcome of an eight-month competitive process involving a team of more than 60 professionals from Inmet, MPSA and external consulting firms who performed a detailed and exhaustive evaluation of bidders. The initial phase of the EP+CM contract will involve basic engineering for all facilities except the power plant and should take approximately 12 months. The power plant, as previously announced, is to be developed under a separate agreement with GDF Suez Central America.
Following basic engineering, and subject to a final investment decision by MPSA to proceed with construction of the project, the contract will be extended to authorize JVP to proceed with full detailed engineering, procurement and construction management for all facilities except the process plant. A separate competitive procurement process will be undertaken to award an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the process plant. Ian Pirie, Inmet's Vice-President, Projects, commented, 'We have gone through a rigorous process to assess the select group of bidders with the appropriate financial strength and relevant experience to execute a mining project of this scale. At the end of the process, and having assembled a strong owner's team with over 300 years of accumulated experience, we feel confident that we have the commitments we need from JVP to address all of the significant technical, safety, environmental and community aspects of the project.'
About Cobre Panama
Cobre Panama is 100 percent owned by Minera Panama S.A., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmet. The project hosts measured and indicated mineral resources of 3.27 billion tonnes grading 0.36 percent copper and 0.06 grams per tonne gold. These mineral resources include proven and probable mineral reserves of 2.14 billion tonnes grading 0.41 percent copper and 0.07 grams per tonne of gold. Mineral resources are quoted at a cut-off grade of 0.15 percent copper. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
We would expect Cobre Panama to produce 289,000 tonnes of copper and 108,000 ounces of gold per year (open pit) during the first 16 years of a 30 year mine life. Project details including estimated capital and operating costs may be found in the 2010 Cobre Panama Front End Engineering and Design Study Executive Summary, the March 31, 2010 Mina de Cobre Panama National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report and the project Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Executive Summary available at www.inmetmining.com.
Mineral resources were estimated by Robert Sim, P. Geo., of SIM Geological Inc. and Bruce Davis, Ph.D., Fellow of the AusIMM (FAusIMM), BD Resource Consulting Inc., both qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101.
Mineral reserves were estimated by William Rose, P.E., of WLR Consulting, Inc., a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.
Forward looking information
Securities regulators encourage companies to disclose forward-looking information to help investors understand a company's future prospects. This press release contains statements about our future financial condition, results of operations and business.
These are 'forward-looking' because we have used what we know and expect today to make a statement about the future. Forward-looking statements usually include words such as may, expect, anticipate, believe or other similar words. We believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, actual events and results could be substantially different because of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business or events that happen after the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. As a general policy, we do not update forward-looking statements except as required by securities laws and regulations
About Inmet
Inmet is a Canadian-based global mining company that produces copper, zinc and gold. We have interests in four mining operations in locations around the world: Cayeli, Las Cruces, Pyhasalmi and Ok Tedi. We also have a 100 percent interest in Cobre Panama, a development property in Panama.
Contacts:
Inmet Mining Corporation
Flora Wood
Director, Investor Relations
+1-416-860-4808
www.inmetmining.com