LONDON (Alliance News) - Amur Minerals Corp said Tuesday the recent decision by the Russian Federation to remove export taxes on intermediate-product nickel and copper could net it as much as USD230 million over its current life-of-mine cycle.
The nickel copper exploration company focused in far east Russia said that this is the third financial inventive package implemented by the Russian government to reduce the cost of recovering nickel and copper. This follows the reduction of the profits tax and the mineral resources extraction tax.
Its current Kun-Mani project is expected to have an average yearly production of 15,900 tonnes of nickel and 4,300 tonnes of copper being delivered to a smelter in either Russia or China.
Taking metal prices at May 29 of USD18,734 per tonne of nickel and USD6,064 per tonne of copper, Amur estimates an average yearly tax savings of around USD17.9 million for the Kun-Manie project. As a result, the life of mine un-discounted revenue increase could be as much as USD230 million.
Amur said that the project's financial potential could be substantially increased over what it reported in the past, taking into account its new production schedule, improved metallurgical recoveries and the financial incentive programmes.
"This is nearly a quarter of a billion dollar incentive package over the life of the mine," said Chief Executive Robin Young in a statement. "Given the fact that the directors believe the mining resource could increase significantly, this could reap an even larger benefit."
Shares in Amur were trading up 7.5% at 3.09 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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Amur Minerals (AMC)