The 36,000 tonne per annum used lead acid battery (ULAB) recycling plant commenced processing in November 2006 with first lead product sales made in December. We reached the present monthly target of 1,000 tonnes in March and have since exceeded the March processing level. For the nine months to June 2007 we processed 320,000 batteries weighing 4,700 tonnes yielding approximately 2,600 tonnes of lead and 213 tonnes of recyclable plastic. Sales of our lead products have to date been made to customers in Australia, Thailand, Germany and New Zealand. We have enjoyed the benefit of a record lead price over the financial year and have continued to secure long term sources of used battery feed to meet expected increased productivity in the 2008 financial year. We plan to introduce an additional upgrading stage for our intermediate lead products at Unanderra to optimise both our metal and oxide grades to increase our customer base and improve financial returns. This is particularly important in the present high demand/price climate and will also be of benefit when the lead price falls back to more traditional levels. We anticipate approval to increase our annual ULAB processing rate from 12,000 tonnes to 36,000 in August 2007 and plan to increase operating hours to meet the gradual increase in productivity.
numbers start to look even better at full capacity and current rising lead prices...comments?
HMC Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
