Morning News Bites for October 9
Newcrest Approves Cadia and Lihir Projects
The Newcrest Board has approved two projects moving to the Execution phase, being Stage 2 of the Cadia Expansion Project and the Lihir Front End Recovery Project.
The Cadia project primarily comprises the addition of a second Coarse Ore Flotation circuit in Concentrator 1 and equipment upgrades in Concentrator 2, which are projected to result in: Plant capacity increasing from 33mtpa to 35mpta, LOM gold recoveries increasing by 3.5% and LOM copper recoveries increasing by 2.7% and finally AISC reducing by an estimated $22 per ounce.
Estimated capital cost for Stage 2 is $175m, $5 million lower than the October 2019 estimate with the project scheduled to be completed by late FY22. If all goes to plan the project will be paid back in a little over four years.
The Lihir front end recovery project comprises the installation of flash flotation and additional cyclone capacity, as well as cyclone efficiency upgrades, to improve grinding classification and reduce gold losses through the flotation circuits. This is projected to result in: LOM gold recoveries increasing by 1.2% and incremental LOM gold production increasing by 244koz.
Newcrest Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sandeep Biswas said “It is an exciting time at Newcrest as we advance our growth pipeline with both of these projects adding value to our existing large scale, long life operations while we pursue the development of Red Chris and Havieron and exploration opportunities globally.”
Wet Screening Plant Construction Commences at Riley Iron Ore Mine.
After the recently completed initial stage of mining and dry screening operations at the Riley Iron Ore Mine the Board of Venture Minerals (VMS) has given the go ahead to proceed with the construction of the Wet Screening Plant with site works (Stage One) having already commenced.
In addition, as part of the Wet Screening Plant construction phase, all required long lead items have been ordered.
Commenting on this major development for the Company at its Riley Iron Ore Mine, Venture Minerals’ Managing Director Andrew Radonjic, said: “Venture’s Board has committed to stage one of the Wet Screening Plant construction as part of its continued ramp up towards full scale production. The iron ore price remains strong, and the Company remains focused on determining the best mining and Screening method at the Riley mine to reduce costs and environmental impact so that we can generate jobs, contracting opportunities and returns to our shareholders.”
The Board’s decision to commence Stage One of West Screening Plant construction ensures that progress towards wet Screening continues while finance is finalised for subsequent stages.
The Company continues to work through several advanced financing proposals for completion of the Wet Screening Plant which will enable nameplate production at Riley.
Mount Gibson Iron Ore Updates Shine Iron Ore Project
Mount Gibson Iron Limited (MGX) has released an update on the planned development of the Company’s Shine Iron Ore Project, located 375km northeast of Perth, in the Mid-West region of Western Australia. Shine represents a near term, low capital production opportunity that will further extend Mount Gibson’s 16-year operational presence in the Mid-West region, facilitated by the Company’s established export infrastructure and logistics arrangements.
Mount Gibson has declared Proved and Probable Ore Reserves of 2.8 million dry metric tonnes grading 59.4% Fe, using a 55% Fe cut-off, within an initial “Stage 1” pit development, for a mine life of two years. Mine life could potentially be extended a further two years by developing a “Stage 2” pit subject to market conditions remaining supportive, based on Measured and Indicated Resources within the modelled pit shells.
The Company is currently finalising commercial and permitting requirements to commence development and achieve targeted first ore sales in mid-2021.
Mount Gibson Chief Executive Officer Peter Kerr said: “We are pleased to be able to capitalise on the positive iron ore market conditions by progressing the Shine Iron Ore Project in order to extend our significant presence in the Mid-West, where we have been an established iron ore exporter since 2004. Our detailed review of the project has confirmed Shine as an attractive production opportunity that can be quickly brought on line and appropriately staged to suit market conditions. Importantly, it will also provide continuing employment and export revenue for the Mid-West region.”
Middle Island Resources Release Impressive Results From Drill Campaign.
WA and Northern Territory explorer and aspiring gold developer, Middle Island Resources (MDI) released further significant gold results emerging from the Company’s Phase 2 reverse circulation drilling campaign at its 100%-owned Sandstone gold project in the central goldfields of Western Australia.
More than 50,000m of drilling in Phase 1 and Phase 2 to date in 2020 has been completed, extending several existing Sandstone deposits and identifying five new satellite open pit deposits.
The Phase 2 RC and diamond drilling program predominantly focused on upgrading existing deposits and infilling and extending the five new satellite open pit deposits, McClaren, McIntyre, Ridge, Old Town Well and Plum Pudding, identified by the Phase 1 RC drilling campaign in the first half of CY2020. All new deposits are located on existing Mining Leases within 2.5km of the Company’s 100%-owned gold processing plant, as shown in Figure 1 below.
The Phase 2 drilling campaign was designed to upgrade existing deposits and infill and extend the five new satellite open pit deposits to an Indicated Mineral Resource classification (nominal 20m x 20m drill pattern). Reconnaissance RC drill traverses were also completed across elements of the 1.1km-long Shillington Gap target, interpreted from high resolution airborne magnetic data to lie beneath shallow transported cover between the Shillington and Ridge gold deposits.
Visible Gold at Core Lithium’s Pickled Parrot Prospect.
Visible gold was discovered on the eastern side of Core Lithium’s (CXO) Pickled Parrot Prospect following up higher soil anomalies from earlier results. Additional samples relating to that area have been submitted to a laboratory for assay and will be reported in due course. A new set of quartz veins has also been mapped and sampled immediately to the southeast where there is currently no baseline geochemical data.
PPP was initially identified at the eastern end of a regional soil line originally sampled for lithium in 2019. Based only on moderately elevated Arsenic and Bismuth, re-assay of conventional soil samples collected by Core resulted in an impressive 828ppb Au anomaly. Further soil sampling over recent weeks has improved the prospectivity of the area with the gold in soil anomaly now peaking at close to 2g/t gold.
PPP has also been geological mapped by Core over recent weeks and found to be the focus of a series of quartz veins in an area of least 300m in length and 100m wide. These veins vary between 1 cm and 10m wide and individually up to 100m long.
Core Lithium’s Managing Director, Stephen Biggins, commented: “To have discovered visible gold at surface at the Pickled Parrot Prospect, in one of the first geological mapping campaigns, is another very promising indication that we are on the right track with this exciting new prospect. We look forward to updating the market as further assay results come to hand.”