MINING WELCOME 欢迎采矿 - The ASIA Miner

SANDFIRE Resources has reached a milestone
in development of the DeGrussa Copper-Gold
Project in Western Australia,
completing the first drawdown of cash from
the $390 million project fund. The company
has drawn $190 million with the majority to
be spent on project development and construction
costs in the first quarter of 2012.
Sandfire’s managing director Karl Simich
says he’s excited by the milestone: “The De-
Grussa site is a hive of activity, with more than
475 people on site and the overall project
now more than 40% complete. The satisfaction
of conditions precedent for the main project
financing facility enables us to repay the
initial mine development facility and ensures
that funding is in place for the balance of the
construction phase.”
Sandfire is undertaking concurrent development
of an open pit and a longer term underground
mine at DeGrussa. The stage 1
open pit is on schedule, with more than 3.5
million bank cubic metres of material mined,
while the Evans Decline has progressed beyond
700 metres from the portal.
Construction of the 1.5 million tonne De-
Grussa Concentrator began towards the end
of the September quarter, marking the beginning
of the most significant construction
phase for the project.
Sandfire remains on target to achieve its
MINOTAUR Exploration has been granted
$62,500 by the South Australian Government
to undertake a three dimensional magnetotelluric
(MT) survey at its Aphrodite iron oxide
and copper-gold (IOCG) target within the
state’s Gawler Craton. The use of 3D MT is
not yet routinely applied to exploring these
types of targets but Minotaur is hopeful the
new geophysical technology will help confirm
positive results.
Aphrodite is about 30km southeast of
Olympic Dam. The region is known for its iron
oxide and copper gold mineralization with
significant prospects nearby at Acropolis,
Wirrda Well and Emmie Bluff. Despite this,
the discovery rate for IOCG deposits is low
because of very thick sedimentary cover.
Minotaur’s last drill hole at the site in 2010
did not resolve the target which was identified
DeGrussa development is well on track
Australia
key project milestones of first direct shipping
ore (DSO) from the open pit in quarter 1 of
2012, first underground ore on the ROM
stockpile in the first half of 2012 and first ore
in the SAG mill in quarter 3 of 2012.
The DeGrussa project is 900km north of
Perth and it is within the Doolgunna tenement
package, which includes six exploration licences
and covers 400sqkm within an
emerging copper-gold mineralized belt. The
project area lies close to a number of existing
and historic gold mines and infrastructure.
In April 2009, Sandfire discovered the highgrade
DeGrussa VMS (volcanogenic massive
sulphide) copper-gold deposit in the northeastern
part of the Doolgunna tenements.
Since then, the company has completed
more than 100,000 metres of diamond
drilling resulting in the discovery and delineation
of the DeGrussa deposit.
The JORC-compliant estimate includes an
indicated and inferred resource of 10.67 million
tonnes @ 5.6% copper, 1.9 grams/
tonne gold and 15 grams/tonne silver containing
600,000 tonnes of copper, 660,000
ounces of gold and 5.1 million ounces of silver.
Preliminary open pit optimizations and
design have resulted in identification of a
component of direct shipping material as
part of the mineral resource.
Development of the stage 1 open pit at Sandfire Resources’ DeGrussa Copper-Gold Project in Western Australia.
Government funds for Aphrodite 3D MT survey
in 2008 after hematite-chalcopyrite and calcite-dolomite-bornite
veins were intersected.
The company says the $167,000 3D MT survey
around previous drill holes will map the
deep bedrock conductance and test how effective
this method is for exploration of concealed
IOCG-style mineralization.
Magnetotelluric surveys use a passive surface
geophysical technique which determines
electrical conductance of the sub-surface to
great depth. An initial MT survey line across
the Aphrodite target has indicated good
bedrock response and resolution.
Minotaur has also announced its maiden
JORC inferred resource at its Muster Dam
magnetite deposit in South Australia. Independent
consultants for the project have estimated
it contains 1.5 billion tonnes at a
Davis Tube Recovery (DTR) rate of 15.2%
magnetite. The joint venture is about 100km
southwest of Broken Hill near the South Australia
and New South Wales border
Minotaur’s exploration director Tony Belperio
says the issue of a JORC resource is a
major milestone for the project. “It confirms
the Muster Dam deposit has the scale and
grade to produce the required throughput of
a high quality magnetite concentrate. In particular,
the extremely low level of deleterious
elements measured in the concentrate suggests
that the product will be attractive to
blast furnace consumers.”
The resource estimate is based on results
3000 DTR analyses from 59 diamond core
and reverse circulation drill holes. Metallurgical
test work on diamond drill samples continues
for a project scoping study, with
completion due in the first quarter of 2012.
January/February 2012 | ASIA Miner | 25