June 16th, 2004

LANGLEY, Canada - Hot on the heels of their 25th anniversary celebrations, Knelson has reached another significant milestone with the sale of their 100th KC-XD48 model concentrator. The order for units #100 and #101 was received from the PT Freeport Mine in Indonesia - a site that has already installed a total of twelve (12) XD48 units in the primary grinding circuits of their C3 and C4 plants.

"We're extremely excited by this order as it comes after extensive GRG (gravity recoverable gold) testwork on the copper concentrate regrind circuit where there appears to be an excellent opportunity to further increase gravity gold recovery," stated Mike McLeavy; Senior Application Engineer and Knelson Territory Manager for Australasia.

"Freeport is a high profile, world-class mining operation and the fact that they have ordered our 100th XD48 seems only fitting given that they will soon account for 14% of all the units in service in the world," McLeavy added.

This installation brings the total number of production size (300 t/h) Knelson Concentrators operating at elevated G force to 16 machines globally. This new record makes Knelson the undisputed industry leader in the recovery of fine-grained precious metals in highly specialized applications for both the gold and platinum industry.

The units, which will be jointly manufactured by Knelson Gravity Solutions in Canada and by ConSep Pty. in Australia, will be capable of running at elevated G force given the fine nature of the feed stream.

"The use of elevated G force is used only in cases where we can prove that there is a tangible metallurgical benefit in doing so," stated Ish Grewal; Manager of Knelson's Research and Technology Centre. "Under certain circumstances the additional capital and operating costs can be justified, but these types of applications are not commonplace and must be carefully evaluated."

The Knelson 300tph XD48 model concentrator was first introduced in 1996 and prior to the introduction of the 650tph Knelson XD70 Concentrator it had the distinction of being the largest centrifugal concentrator available to the mining industry. Ironically, while the XD48 unit number #100 is in production, the XD70 unit #001 is in transit to what will be its inaugural installation.

Knelson Gravity Solutions (KGS) caters to global clients requiring gravity concentration expertise and turnkey processing solutions. KGS provides gravity testing, circuit modeling, process development, detail engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and commissioning services for fully integrated modular gravity circuits.

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