Talvivaara Mining Co. (TLV1V.HE) expects its Sotkamo mine to be operating at capacity by September, which would involve producing nickel at a rate of around 50,000 metric tons a year, its senior executives said Thursday.

The London and Helsinki-listed company told Dow Jones Newswires it is in the midst of ramping up operations at the mine in eastern Finland, and hopes to produce 30,000 tons of nickel this year, with an expansion project planned which could eventually take output to around 100,000 tons a year.

Chief Financial Officer Saila Miettinen-Lahde said: "We're currently producing at roughly 20,000 tons a year and we would clearly need to gear that up to fairly close to the 50,000-tons-a-year level by the end of this year to be able to produce [our targeted annual level]."

Talvivaara's Sotkamo mine contains one of the largest-known nickel-sulphide deposits in Europe, but problems at its metals-recovery plant caused a recent bottleneck and affected production.

Chief Executive Pekka Pera said the plant was already sporadically able to operate at its nameplate capacity but that further alterations and modifications mean it should be able to achieve an annualized rate of 50,000 tons a year by September.

Talvivaara's expansion project intends to increase production to at least 80,000 tons of nickel a year, and Miettinen-Lahde said the working target of 100,000 tons a year would make Sotkamo "one of the biggest nickel mines in the world."

Pera said an update on environmental permitting should be received in the second quarter, with Talvivaara's technical decisions slated for the third quarter.

Talvivaara recently signed long-term agreements to sell byproduct uranium to Canadian mining-company Cameco Corp. (CCJ, CCO.T) and is currently awaiting export and production permits from the European Atomic Energy Community.

With a Finnish general election set for April, the company is expecting final approval for the $60 million deal in the summer and hopes eventually to produce more than 410 tons of yellowcake uranium.

Pera said the agreement is "very high margin" and Miettinen-Lahde said that potentially it could account for 5% of the company's revenue, which would "flow all the way through to the bottom line."

-By Michael Haddon, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420-7842-9289; michael.haddon@dowjones.com
Cameco (NYSE:CCJ)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Cameco Charts.
Cameco (NYSE:CCJ)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Cameco Charts.