Sepon

Sepon is an open pit, copper and gold mining operation in southern Laos.

  
Lane Xang Minerals Limited (LXML) is the registered name of the company which operates Sepon. Lane Xang is Lao for “one million elephants”, a historical name for the kingdom of Laos.  MMG owns 90% of LXML, while the Lao Government owns the other 10%.

Copper

The Sepon copper operation commenced production in 2005 and by early 2011 a copper expansion project had lifted annual production capacity from approximately 65,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes per annum of copper cathode.

Sepon’s copper cathode typically attracts a premium over the London Metals Exchange (LME) copper price
due to the high quality of the product, the project’s proximity to customers and the reliability of supply.

In the fourth quarter 2011, the LME issued a formal notice confirming that ’Sepon’ brand copper cathode had been listed as Copper – Grade A brand, eligible for delivery to LME-approved warehouses.

Gold

The Sepon gold project yielded its first gold and silver doré in December 2002. In early 2005, an expansion of the original gold processing facility was completed, doubling the capacity of the gold processing plant to 2.5 million tonnes of ore per annum.

Since the commencement of operations, the Sepon gold operation has produced over 1.2 million ounces of gold through open pit mining and conventional treatment of oxide gold ore.

Sepon is currently undertaking a pre-feasibility study to evaluate options for processing its primary gold resources.

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  • Facts
    Location  Located in Savannakhet province, southern Laos, approximately 40 kilometres north of the town of Sepon.
    Product Copper cathode, gold doré.
    Current mine life Copper: approximately 2020
    Gold: approximately 2013
    Employment
    full-time equivalent as at 31 December 2011    		 1832 employees and 2365 contractors.
    Mining method Open pit mining
    Processing method Copper: Whole-of-ore leach, solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW)
    Gold: Conventional carbon-in-leach
    Resources
    as at 30 June 2011    		 1.5 million tonnes copper
    4.6 million ounces gold
    22.1 million ounces silver
    Reserves
    as at 30 June 2011    		 0.7 million tonnes copper
    0.9 million ounces silver
    0.2 million ounces gold
    Product sales Copper cathodes are transported via road and sea to manufacturers of cable, wire and tube in South-east Asia.

    Gold doré bars are transported by air freight to a refinery in Australia where they are refined into gold bullion. The refined gold is subsequently sold to financial institutions.
  • Financial & Production Figures

    Sepon financial data

    US$ million 2011 2010
    Revenue
    		 816.9 596.7
    EBITDA 529.4 358.6
    Depriciation and amortisation (58.1) (14.9)
    Operation profit / (loss) (EBIT) 471.3 343.7
    Net finance costs (14.4) (9.5)
    Segment result 456.9 334.2

    Sepon operating data


    		 2011 2010
    Copper ore mined (t) 1,804,633 2,538,775
    Copper ore milled (t) 1,734,861 1,337,491
    Gold ore mined (t) 1,567,432 1,915,174
    Gold ore milled (t) 1,886,806 2,237,773
    Contained metal production
    Copper cathode (t) 78,859 64,241
    Gold poured (oz) 74,484 104,564

    2011 actual C1 costs

    Copper US$0.98/lb
    Gold US$867/oz

    2012 production guidance

    Copper cathode (t) 78,000–82,000
    Gold (oz) 60,000–65,000

    2012 cost guidance

    Copper US$1.05–US$1.10/lb
    Gold US$1,110–US$1,120/oz

     Information about Rosebery’s quarterly production is available on the Quarterly Reports page.

  • Contact Details

    Sepon mine

    The Sepon mine is located in Vilabouly district, Savannakhet province.

    It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.

    Sepon is a closed site and does not provide tours.

    Vientiane office

    Sepon’s administrative functions are managed out of the Vientiane office.

    MMG House, Bourichanh Road, Sisattanak District,
    PO Box 4486, Vientiane Capital Lao PDR
    T (021) 268 200
    F (021) 268 201

    The Vientiane office operates from 8.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.

    Contacts

    Robin Hamilton Coates
    External Relations Manager

    Rick Watsford
    General Manager Sepon

    Contact us form

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