BROWNS OXIDE PROJECT TO BE PLACED INTO CARE AND MAINTENANCE
Media Release
Hunan Non-ferrous Resources
The Browns Oxide Joint Venture partners (Compass Resources Limited and Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corporation) have announced that the Browns Oxide mine and processing plant located at Batchelor is to be put into permanent care and maintenance.
The Browns Mine project was built in 2006 and 2007, and operated briefly in 2008 before being shut down due to operational problems in early 2009. Since then the site has been maintained in care and maintenance, as options for the project have been reviewed.
The Joint Venture partners made the decision to move to permanent care and maintenance due to the likely cost of the remedial works required to fix the processing plant, plus the uncertainty of obtaining approval for the Area 55 mine, which was to become a major source of ore to the Browns processing plant, once the Browns mine was exhausted.
As a result of this decision the project operator, HNC (Australia) Resources limited expects to make up to 12 workers redundant in the coming months.