Galaxy Resources has officially begun production at its Mt Cattlin mine.
“Production has commenced, with both mining and processing operations having started up,” Galaxy said in a company statement.
“An initial 5-week program will sequentially recover and stockpile spodumene and tantalum concentrates from the fines circuit ahead of crusher and HMS (coarse circuit) commissioning in the June quarter,” the miner stated.
“Given the quantities of ore already mined and available for processing, the immediate focus at restart through to May 2016, is on the processing circuit. This work shall including progressive commissioning of the primary and secondary feed preparation circuits, thickener, fine and coarse circuit screens, mica removal screens, the tantalum spirals and tables, as well as the fines reflux classifiers and filter belt.”
As part of this restart of production, mining of blasted ore in the Dowling Pit has also begun and will be stockpiled, with feed for the processing circuit sourced from existing stockpiles.
Galaxy is aiming to reach a throughput rate of 800,000 tonnes per annum by the end of June.
First delivery of concentrate is on target for July/August.