Finders Resources (LON:FND, ASX:FND) is an emerging copper producer through its Wetar project on Wetar Island in Indonesia. The company is also developing the highly prospective advanced Ojolali gold-silver project in Sumatra, providing a well balanced mix of base and precious metals within its portfolio. Significantly, per the Company Update of 7th July, Finders has successfully operated a demonstration plant at Wetar producing 1970 tonnes of copper cathode and the company is now moving into the next phase of production expansion. Add to this the positive Jambi Drilling Results from its Ojolali project, and the Company appears to be moving toward significant value generation for shareholders.
We were keen to know more about the Company and its activities so we sent a few questions over to Chris Farmer, Managing Director, who was pleased to respond.
MM: It is clear that the current Company focus is the Wetar copper project in Indonesia. Can you provide a brief overview for potential investors as to why this project was selected (in particular covering the financial and/or logistical advantages of operating in Indonesia) and the progress that you feel has been made since commencement of operations?
CF: In the early 90’s, as a young geologist for Billiton, I worked on the Wetar Gold Project. The potential for copper beneath the gold cap were known at the time. When the area became available in late 2004, myself, Russell Fountain (originally involved with the Wetar discovery in the 1980’s) and Gerry Mbatemooy (Billiton’s Indonesian director) applied for tenements which covered the project area. Our attraction, besides the historical links, were the high grade nature of the deposit (2.5% Cu) which is essentially sitting at surface and the coastal location which greatly reduces potential shipping costs (a consistent bane of copper producers). We knew from the outset that finding a processing route to enable sales of a copper project were the projects biggest challenge since studies previously by Billiton indicated that a copper concentrate was poor quality. Hence, our biggest achievement has been unlocking the value of the project by evaluating and proving heap leach technology by means of the demonstration plant which has now been delivering LME grade cathode for the past 18 months.
MM: The Wetar demonstration plant is already producing copper on a small scale, could you briefly outline…
