UPDATE 1-Geovic Mining says may start Cameroon cobalt mine in 2010

YAOUNDE, July 12 (Reuters) - Canada-listed Geovic Mining may launch its Nkamouna cobalt, nickel and manganese project in Cameroon as early as this year, the firm said on Monday, accelerating a timetable that had been delayed until 2012.

Even if digging does begin this year, full commercial production may not start until 2013-14 and mining itself could be pushed back to April 2011, depending on the outcome of a feasbility study currently underway, interim general manager Conrad Houser told Reuters.

The firm says it sits on a deposit large and rich enough to make it the world's biggest miner of cobalt, a hard metal used in aerospace engineering and batteries for hybrid cars.

It also wants to build a 6,000 tonnes per month refinery on site in order to process ore into higher value products.

'Geovic has recovered from last year's global financial crisis,' Houser said.

'A major innovation was the decision by the board on July 1 to construct a refinery at the project site to upgrade the final quality of the cobalt, nickel and manganese that will be extracted,' he said.

Building a refinery that could produce cobalt carbonate and oxide, nickel carbonate and manganese products would push the overall project cost to $500 million, Houser said.

(Reporting by Tansa Musa; Writing by Daniel Magnowski; Editing by David Cowell) Keywords: CAMEROON COBALT/GEOVIC ([e-mail]; Dakar Newsroom [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.