Altona Mining has announced another upgrade to production guidance for the 2012/2013 year at the Outokumpu project in southeast Finland, that was the subject of an IM article last September. The original forecast in July 2012 for the 2012/2013 financial year was between 5,000 and 6,000 t of copper and 5,000 to 6,000 oz of gold in concentrate. This was increased to a range of 6,500 to 7,000 t of copper and 6,500 to 7,000 oz of gold in concentrate on January 22, 2013. Recent performance at the Outokumpu project is ahead of previous market guidance reflecting an 18% improvement in copper reserve grade from 1.2% to 1.4% Cu in the upper Wallaby orebody, and the mining of higher grade stopes than previously scheduled. In particular, March was an exceptional month with 1,100 t of copper produced from the highest grade part of the Wallaby zone.

Accordingly, production guidance for the year ended 30 June 2013 is as follows:

• Copper production – 7,500 to 8,000 t of contained copper in concentrate
•  Gold production – 7,500 to 8,000 oz of contained gold in concentrate

Current high grade production is not expected to continue and production in coming quarters will be at or below the global reserve grade of 1.7% Cu as production moves to lower grade areas of the Wallaby zone.

Cost performance remains in line with previous guidance of the upper part of the range of $1.40-$1.60/lb.

Altona Mining is a copper producer in Finland and has a major copper development project in Australia. The Outokumpu project commenced production in early 2012. The project comprises the 550,000 t/y Kylylahti underground decline mine and the recently refurbished Luikonlahti mill. The annual production rate averages 8,000 t of copper, 8,400 oz of gold and 1,600 t of zinc with a study to expand production up to 12,000 t of copper underway. Regional resources include 9 Mt in two closed mines and four unmined resources within 30 km of the Luikonlahti mill.

Altona’s other core asset is the Roseby copper project near Mt Isa in Queensland and is one of Australia’s largest known, undeveloped copper projects with a resource containing 1.52 Mt of copper and 0.38 Moz of gold. The first development envisaged is the 7 Mt/y Little Eva open-pit copper-gold mine and concentrator. Little Eva’s proposed annual production is 38,800 t of copper and 17,000 oz of gold for a minimum of 11 years. A definitive feasibility study has been completed and the project is fully permitted. Altona is engaged in discussions with potential partners to enable the funding of this major development.