Aussie gold miner Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd
(ASX:KCN) has gained approval from the Thai Board of Investment for the expansion of its Chatree North Processing Plant in central Thailand.
In a statement this morning, Kingsgate says its Thai subsidiary, Akara Mining, has been approved for a Zone 3 investment promotion package for the new Chatree North Processing Plant.
The company says a zone 3 fiscal incentive includes an eight year tax free period from its first production, followed by a further five years at half the 30% corporate tax rate.
Kingsgate says based on the investment approval, the Board has approved the plant expansion, which will commence immediately by finalising the engineering and construction contracts.
The New Chatree North Processing Plant will be a separate 2.7 million tonne per annum ore processing plant, the company says, to be built alongside the current 2.3 million tonnes per year Chatree processing plant.
Kingsgate says this will lift combined total ore processing capacity to in excess of 5 million tonnes a year and when fully operational will potentially lift gold production levels to a rate of between 200,000 to 250,000 ounces a year.
The company says it has already spent US$25 million on long lead capital items and engineering design.
Kingsgate Consolidated’s net profit after tax for the 12 months to June 2009 came to $32.52 million.
