Millennium to begin mining next year

Millennium Minerals says mining will commence in the first quarter of next year at its Nullagine gold project in the Pilbara, after securing $10 million in new finance facilities.

The $10 million lease finance facility, provided by National Australia Bank, adds to the $35 million in project finance facilities through BNP Paribas and NAB that Millennium secured in March.

Millennium said the funds would support its expanded scope for the Nullagine project, following a drilling program which revealed a 25 per cent increase in ore reserves and a subsequent 25 per cent increase in forecast gold production.

The company also announced today it had ordered long lead items for the project's construction, including a camp, offices, buildings, workshops and stores, which will be provided by the Airlec Group.

Millennium also said it had entered agreement with Autotec for the construction of a semi-autogenous mill.

Chief executive Brian Rear said the additional finance would be an important component of supporting Millennium's expanded plans for Nullagine.

"The order today of initial long lead-time plant and equipment is an important step to ensure we deliver on our construction timetable and demonstrates the significant momentum already generated for this project," Mr Rear said in a statement.

"Construction activity is expected to commence shortly and is scheduled to take approximately 14 months from commencement through to commissioning.

"Mining is expected to commence during the first quarter of 2012 with first gold expected during the second quarter."

At 12:10PM (WST) Millennium shares were steady at 2.8 cents.