Melbourne (Platts)--20Nov2012/413 am EST/913 GMT

Australia's Jupiter Mines has loaded its first full train load of manganese ore from its Tshipi Borwa mine in South Africa, the company said Tuesday.

First ore was mined at Borwa October 10 and 6,430 mt has now been railed by Transnet to Port Elizabeth for stockpiling pending a 40,000 mt initial shipment, the company said.

Jupiter said it was still in offtake discussions with various parties for Borwa's offtake, including end-users and marketers in Asia and Europe.

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Company chairman Brian Gilbertson said Borwa was on time and on budget and Jupiter had $100 million in cash in the bank, enabling it to meet any remaining Tshipi commitments.

Jupiter holds 49.9% of the Borwa mine with South Africa's Ntsimbintle holding 37% and the remainder held by OM Holdings. The mine is located in the Northern Cape and is expected to produce 2.4 million mt/year of manganese ore.

--Marnie Hobson, marnie_hobson@platts.com --Edited by Wendy Wells, wendy_wells@platts.com

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