News

April 07, 2009

So Busy We Can’t Schedule Any More Ships In: Kenmare’s Ilmenite Project In Mozambique Gets Back On Track

By Alastair Ford

Michael Carvill’s not one to be thrown off his stride by anything so mild as the gentle skepticism of a question from Minesite. But, in response to a certain hesitancy on behalf of many in the market to believe that Kenmare’s finally put its troubles behind it, Kenmare’s managing director will admit that he was fairly wrong-footed last year when new and long awaited dredge pump motors arrived for his company’s Moma ilmenite project in Mozambique, and yet still the project floundered. “I think I was guilty of taking the assertions of the previous mine management at face value”, he says, and when the hoped-for ramp up duly failed to materialize, several of said management were duly, and unceremoniously, replaced. It’s testament to Kenmare’s longevity, as well as to the severity of the recent credit crunch, that its recent travails have left its shares trading at as low a level as they’ve been for the best part of a decade. Matters weren’t helped when a heavy cyclone swept through the region, but the real problem was that there had been no anticipation on the part of those on the ground as to what would happen when the motors arrived.

When the new motors did arrive, says Michael, “I was rubbing my hands in anticipation”, in expectation of a final lift off for Kenmare. Instead, he was forced to get on a plane down to Mozambique himself, to indulge in a spot of troubleshooting. After extensive consultations with those on the ground at Moma – those who actually have to work the dredging kit – Michael produced a list of 356 jobs that needed doing, or as he terms them, “task areas”. Well and good. The company set to work, and as...