FML.L Regulatory News (FML)

FRONTIER MINING LTD

("Frontier" or "the Company")

Operations Update - Publication of Newsletter

Frontier Mining (AIM:FML), the AIM listed exploration, development and production Company focused on Kazakhstan, is pleased to announce the publication of the September 2013 newsletter which contains the following report from Adam Moroney, an independent degree-qualified consultant with 20 years of SX/EW management and heap leach research experience.

The report from Adam Mooney is set out below and the newsletter can be found on the Company's website: www.frontiermining.kz

"Introduction

I was engaged by KazCopper in May 2013 as Benkala's first Expatriate Consultant to assist in heap leach and SX/EW operations. I have 20 years' experience in copper, nickel and cobalt hydrometallurgy in the areas of mine production, mine-site management, process plant commissioning and process research/development. One of my areas of expertise is in heap leach development and management. I have led processing plants in achieving record Life of Mine annual production and have authored five patents; four of which are in the technically-challenging field of nickel laterite heap leaching.

Of the thirteen heap leaching operations and projects I have led or been involved in, every case has been technically different due to the distinctive physical and chemical nature of the ores at the different sites. The localities I refer to include Australia, Peru, Chile, Turkey, Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia and now Kazakhstan. Each site has also had its own unique combination of cultural, climatic, geographical, infrastructure, and political challenges.

The strengths and opportunities that can be exploited at the Benkala Operations are its large resource, low acid-consuming ore, readily-available and developed utilities and competing raw-materials suppliers. Like any mining business at an early stage, cash flow is always a challenge we will have to overcome, along with issues such as the clayey nature of the ore, extreme winter-time conditions, unproven equipment reliability (excluding SX/EW), high employee turnover and geographical remoteness.

Full-scale production trials for increased copper production rate

From a technical perspective, one of the greatest challenges, as previously mentioned, is the clayey nature of the ore. The shallow oxide ore and underlying secondary sulphide ore both contain significant amounts of kaolinite clays. The copper minerals are more suited to heap leach extraction of copper rather than pyrometallurgical extraction, but the clays represent the challenge. Of all of the heap leach properties I have been involved in, Benkala has the highest clay content. The clay prevents gravity-led percolation of the extracting liquid through the heaps, causing a significant bottleneck in the process.

Fortunately, the clay content of the Benkala reserves decreases gradually with depth, as the secondary sulphides are exposed and mined. The first recommendation I made was to undertake block-wise "permeability grade control" at the pit, in the same manner as is conventionally done for copper grade control. The crux of the plan is to control permeability at the leach heaps rather than to control copper grade at the leach heaps. This plan is sound because, without permeability control, copper production would remain well below our internal target.

Upon implementing permeability grade control on June 6, the next 2.5 metre heap at Pad 3 exhibited significantly improved permeability, and a decision was made on July 3 to increase the heap height to 3.5 metres. Each time the heap height is increased:

• leach pad capex and opex decreases proportionally with respect to tonnes of ore stacked 

• stacking plant availability increases significantly, and 

• SX/EW opex decreases with respect to tonnes of cathode produced.

Permeability was not affected at the 3.5 metre section and a decision was made on August 9 to increase stack height to 4.2 metres; the maximum allowable with the existing stacking equipment. Permeability of the stacked ore was further improved on August 13 by testing and implementing a new method of agglomerate moisture control during production trials.

I requested on August 14 that the radial stacker be upgraded to enable up to 8 metre stack height. The request for 8 meters was based on promising news arising from research-style laboratory agglomeration test work. Unfortunately, the existing radial stacker can only be modified to reach a maximum of 6 meters.

With low permeability issues now behind us, it is possible to employ the conventional forced-aeration method of oxidation for the secondary sulphide minerals that are being stacked. Forced-aeration supplies oxygen to the heap, allowing, through a moderately complex chain of chemical and biological processes, greater rates of copper extraction from the sulphide minerals. The forced-aeration concept was presented to Frontier Mining during my first visit in May, however it could not be implemented until permeability was improved; a relatively permeable heap is required to allow ingress of air.

So until forced-aeration is successfully implemented, the rate of copper extraction from the new secondary sulphide heap at Pad 3 is expected to remain lower than that of typical oxide heaps. The copper is not lost from production, it is just delayed. Once forced-aeration is implemented into new leach heaps, the ferric iron generated from them will not only increase the rate of copper extraction from the aerated heap, but will also increase the copper extraction rate from the older non-aerated heaps. This is because ferric iron is the penultimate product of forced-aeration, and it is ferric iron that extracts the copper from the secondary sulphide.

Research and development for robust stack height increases and effective forced aeration

Laboratory-scale research of agglomerate additives commenced in parallel with the production trials. Five material-types were identified as potential low-cost options for robust permeability improvement. To date, one of these material-types have been identified as superior, two as potentially useful, one as too expensive, and one as ineffective. The superior material has the following attributes:

• Produces robustly permeable agglomerates, even from the most clayey Benkala ores, 

• Retains high agglomerate permeability under loads equivalent to >10 meter stack height, 

• Compatible with downstream SX/EW unit operations, 

• Locally available, 

• Low-cost, 

• Patentable.

The dose rate and dosing technique of the material have been partly optimized for the most clayey ores and process optimization continues for less clayey ores, where it is anticipated that lesser quantities of the material will be required. Although an ideal material has already been identified, alternatives continue to be investigated at Benkala. The identity of the material will not be publically announced until IP protection is in place.

Other Improvement Projects

As stated earlier, the Benkala Operation, like any other mine, has its numerous weaknesses and threats. Each of these need to be planned for, budgeted for, and managed in a forward-thinking and intelligent way. Apart from the clay issue described above, the other great weakness forced upon Benkala is the harshness of wintertime. The focus on this problem is equally intense, however it is likely that the first achievements in this area will be to operate further into the winter period, and to recommence operations earlier in the subsequent year. Other improvement projects center upon the need for capital investment in order to remove existing bottlenecks in the production process. 

I look forward to working with Frontier going forward.

Adam Moroney, BAppSc

Consultant of Cu Ni Co hydrometallurgy"

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