Evolution Mining has doubled the copper and gold reserves and extended the mine life to 2040 since it purchased the Ernest Henry mine outright in January 2022.
The completion of Ernest Henry’s mine-extension pre-feasibility study (PFS) – announced on Monday – has seen the mine’s ore reserve increase 126 per cent from a December 2022 estimate to 77.4 million tonnes, with contained copper increasing 103 per cent to 589,000 tonnes and contained gold jumping 124 per cent to 1.11 million ounces.
The PFS indicates the mine extension could deliver approximately 655,000 ounces of payable gold and 375,000 tonnes of payable copper, delivering an internal rate of return of 28 per cent (based on a base case of $2400 per ounce of gold and $12,000 per tonne of copper). This equates to a net-present value (NPV) of $690 million.
Capital costs would be $450–500 million, with 60 per cent of this supporting development below the 750mRL (metres relative level). Majority of the capital would not be required until the 2026–27 and 2027–28 financial years.
Ever since Evolution acquired 100 per cent of Ernest Henry, the company has been aggressively exploring the project, regularly announcing resource upgrades and increases in the mine’s copper potential.
Evolution has also announced its board has greenlit capital investment for the expansion of its Mungari plant in WA, with a $250 million investment to boost throughput from 2 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) to 4.2Mtpa.
“Mungari has demonstrated its capacity to consistently and reliably deliver approximately 135,000 ounces per annum in recent years,” Evolution managing director and chief executive officer Lawrie Conway said.
“This plant expansion unlocks the very large regional resource base, reduces all-in-sustaining costs (AISC) by 18 per cent to $1750 per ounce, extends the mine life out to 15 years, and grows production to over 200,000 ounces post commissioning.
“The expansion was always envisaged and formed part of our due diligence when we acquired the Kundana and East Kundana properties in 2021. Having successfully integrated the operations, this is now the next logical phase of making Mungari a cornerstone asset of Evolution.”
Evolution has also announced a restructure of its debt profile which it said will unlock an additional $445 million of liquidity over the next three years. The restructure included a $US200 million ($303 million) US private placement (USPP) and the replacement of existing $590 million term loan facilities with a reduced four-year, $300 million loan.
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As South32 looks to grow its portfolio, the company seems to have identified a copper mine that could be an M&A fit.
According to The Australian Financial Review, South32 has sounded out a potential acquisition of Khoemacau Copper Mining which operates its namesake copper mine in Botswana.
Khoemacau ramped up to full production in February – achieving 3.65 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of throughput – and has a nameplate production capacity of 60,000 tonnes per annum of copper, with silver as an added-value product.
Khoemacau has an estimated mine life of 20 years, producing copper at C1 cash costs of $US1.15 per pound. Mining is currently taking place from Zone 5 – an underground mine where three corridors are producing an average of 1.2Mtpa of ore each.
It is understood South32 has engaged RBC Capital Markets as it prepares an indicative bid for Khoemacau Copper Mining, while the AFR also believes the company could come up against opposition, including from Sandfire Resources.
Khoemacau could be seen to complement Sandfire’s Motheo copper mine, which produced first copper concentrate in late May.
The major currently produces copper from its 45 per cent stake in the Sierra Gorda mine in Chile – an asset it acquired in February 2022.
The company also has a series of earn-in agreements with resource companies around the world. This includes two emerging copper exploration projects in Argentina – Chita Valley and Don Julio.
Kerr said Argentina could be a copper jurisdiction to keep an eye on in years to come.
“Argentina’s become an interesting location,” he told reporters at a Melbourne Mining Club luncheon in late April. “When we first started doing some work there, we were probably the only ones. You’ve got BHP there, you’ve got Barrick there, you’ve Glencore there – everyone’s sort of pouring money into that jurisdiction at the moment.
“If you look at where it is, it’s on the other side of the Chile mountains where basically all the copper is. So I think that’s an area that’s going to develop pretty quickly. The challenge around that jurisdiction is it tends to be on average higher levels of arsenic, which typically you blend out, or you look at new technology to remove it.”
Elsewhere, South32’s portfolio is made up of commodities such as alumina, aluminium, zinc, silver, lead, nickel and manganese.
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BHP and Microsoft will collaborate to improve copper recovery at BHP’s Escondida copper mine in Chile.
The collaboration will see BHP use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimise concentrator performance at the site.
Escondida is the world’s largest copper mine, with a known resource of 21.7 billion tonnes in 2019.
It is hoped that the new digital technology will allow the team at Escondida to generate more value from the existing resource.
“We expect the next big wave in mining to come from the advanced use of digital technologies,” BHP chief technical officer Laura Tyler said.
“As grades decline at existing copper mines and fewer new economic discoveries are made, next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics will need to be used to unlock more production and value from our existing mines.”
John Montgomery, Microsoft corporate vice president, AI platform said the company is keen to partner with BHP in a transformational project.
“We are excited to partner with BHP on this transformative project that demonstrates the power of AI, machine learning and cloud technologies”, he said.
“We expect global demand for copper to increase significantly as the world transitions to lower carbon sources of energy powered by more solar panels and wind turbines,” Basto said in his speech.
“We have operated Escondida in Chile, the largest copper mine in the world for more than 30 years… Every year, Escondida mines enough material to fill the Adelaide Oval to the roof 80 times, and produces enough copper to produce around 12 million electric vehicles.”
The Federal Government has announced the planning approval for a $182 million upgrade of three berths at Port Kembla, located in the Illawarra region in New South Wales.
The upgrade will help to guarantee the supply of Illawarra steel for new homes, schools, hospitals, and transport infrastructure.
The Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said the upgrade will help rebuild the domestic manufacturing industry in NSW and will support more than 14,500 jobs.
“Our construction industry is the largest user of Port Kembla’s steel, using more than 70 per cent of the site’s total output,” Scully said.
The Federal Minister added that the approval provides more capacity to import coking coal for steelmaking and keep production flowing when local coal supplies are scaled back from 2028.
“It’s an investment in jobs, training, and the Illawarra community, but importantly it’s a vote of confidence in NSW manufacturing and construction, providing the locally sourced steel they need to build the homes, hospitals, and transport infrastructure NSW needs,” Scully said.
Minister for Illawarra Ryan Park said the revamp of the three berths will lead to more local steel being used for major NSW Government projects, supporting thousands of local jobs.
“Illawarra steel contributes around $10.3 billion to the NSW economy each year, and this decision secures the continued direct employment of around 4500 people, together with another 10,000 people in the supply chain,” Park said.
BlueScope Australian chief executive Tania Archibald said the planning approval demonstrates the NSW Government’s commitment to secure the future of steelmaking in Australia.
“BlueScope operates five berths at Port Kembla to import a range of raw materials such as iron ore, coal, limestone, recycled steel scrap, and export steel products to customers, and the continued supply of these raw materials is critical to the operations of the steelworks,” Archibald said.
“This infrastructure upgrade represents a significant investment to secure the asset for the long-term whilst supporting future technology options for low-emissions steelmaking.”
100 years is a big milestone for any piece of rubber, but Linatex® premium rubber is so much more than that – it’s 95% latex formula and unique manufacturing process has remained unchanged for 100 years.
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Linatex® premium natural rubber exhibits outstanding resilience, strength and resistance to cutting, tearing and abrasion. It has been field-tested in mine sites for 100 years, delivering set-and-forget solutions with unsurpassed wear life in critical, severe-duty applications.
“Everything that we’ve tried to do with it [Linatex rubber] to see if it can fail, it hasn’t failed yet,” says Chance Harvey, director of Engineering and Mine Plant Development, Pattison Sand.
100 Years of Value
For the past century, Linatex® rubber lining and modular panels have been significantly reducing maintenance costs, improving safety and increasing throughput for the mines. And the next 100 years will be no different.
“It significantly reduces material costs associated with changing out too frequently. On the cost side, most importantly, it enabled us to produce more copper,” said Akhbayar Enkhsaikhan, concentrator maintenance manager, Oyu Tolgoi Mine.
Ramelius Resources has provided an exploration update on its Penny mine and other exploration projects within its portfolio of gold assets in Western Australia.
The Penny gold mine is located approximately 150 kilometres south-east of the Mt Magnet operations and 550 kilometres north-east of Perth in WA.
Ramelius has reported that the Penny gold mine received its final ore haulage approvals on May 11, and its haulage schedule is in place to clear site stockpile by June 30. The operation has seen underground diamond drilling commence with visible gold seen in core outside southern boundary of Penny North’s mine plan.
Ramelius’ Bartus East site also saw diamond drilling continuing with results from shallow-angle holes including 60 metres at 7.82 grams per tonne (g/t) Au from 448 metres, with an estimated true width of approximately 45 metres.
The Mt Finnerty joint venture (JV) Ramelius shares with Westar Resources saw ongoing surface diamond drilling yielding recorded an excellent follow-up result of 8.70 metres at 13.4g/t Au from 173.5 metres.
Adjacent to the previously reported 13 metres at 4.37g/t Au and eight metres at 4.87g/t Au, Ramelius said further drilling is planned at the JV once structural interpretation is confirmed.
Ramelius managing director Mark Zeptner said the progress made on its various gold projects was satisfying.
“It is pleasing to have finally obtained the full ore haulage approvals for our high-grade Penny mine, which should see us clear the site stockpiles and mine production, in what promises to be our best Quarter for the financial year,” Zeptner said.
“In addition, our exploration and resource development teams continue to hit high grade material at Bartus East, which confirms similar wide, high-grade intercepts to those received late last year.
“Our Mt Finnerty JV with Westar Resources is also looking more and more interesting with additional high-grade hits and the geologists beginning to understand the controls to the mineralisation.”
With the Newmont takeover of Australian gold miner Newcrest now given the green light by the board, Australia’s gold landscape is set to change forever.
Newcrest has a strong portfolio of assets which the US gold giant is evidently keen to get its hands on, such as the Brucejack gold and silver mine in Canada, the Lihir gold mine in PNG, Cadia Hill in NSW, and the Telfer mine in WA – both among Australia’s largest gold mining operations.
Newmont already owns the Boddington mine in WA and the Tanami mine in the NT, so the takeover will put the company in control of four out of six of Australia’s largest gold mines.
But industry experts from the Australian Financial Review (AFR) are speculating that not all of Newcrest’s assets will make the cut, and will be divested before the dust settles.
Newmont chief executive officer Tom Palmer told AFR that he considers only two of Newcrest’s assets “tier one”, which are Cadia Hill and Lihir.
“Those assets are tier one, world-class by any measure. So, they are firmly in the portfolio,” he told AFR.
When the ink dries, this will give Newmont a portfolio of ten tier one assets.
Palmer also showed a keen interest in Newcrest’s Canadian assets, Brucejack and Red Chris, which are located nearby its own Saddle North project. Palmer called this combination of gold assets a “golden triangle”.
“I would call the golden triangle a tier one district,” he said.
That’s not to say that all everything else faces divestment, but it seems that Newmont will be considering its new assets very carefully.
“We are certainly looking for value over volume,” he said.
“So as we work our way through understanding the portfolio, we will be making judgements about what our go-forward portfolio is.”
Newcrest’s Cadia Hill is the second largest gold mine in the country.
“In the early 2000s, the control of the Australian gold industry stood at 80 per cent,” Surbiton managing director Sandra Close said.
“It dropped to just under 30 per cent Australian control as overseas gold companies bought up Australian operations, and it was when the Aussie dollar was down around 50 (US) cents, so it was pretty cheap for them to buy the operations.
“Over time a lot of those operations were sold, so we’re currently looking at 60 per cent Australian control in the gold industry.
“But the recent announcement with Newmont and Newcrest, and we’ll be watching that closely, if that did go ahead it would mean Australian control would fall just below 50 per cent again.
“Whether we’d see yet another round of acquisitions as we did in the early 2000s is a pretty interesting question.”
The spot price of gold is currently trading at US$2015.60 per ounce.
The Lincom Group has appointed as the exclusive distributor for MDS, a Terex brand, in WA, NT, SA, Papua New Guinea, and New Caledonia.
MDS is headquartered in Ireland where it designs and manufactures heavy duty rock trommels. Its equipment is designed to deliver maximum efficiency, reliability, and versatility.
The MDS heavy-duty rock trommels can screen rocks as large as 800mm and include features such as hydraulic jacking legs, remote control, modular drums, drum cleaners and electronic systems to monitor and control aspects of the trommel.
The range includes mobile, semi-mobile or static, and the MDS trommels are built to last in harsh conditions.
The Lincom Group has supplied equipment and services to the mining, quarrying, recycling and waste industries for more than 27 years. Its portfolio includes mobile crushers, screeners, conveyors, and other specialised equipment.
The partnership between the two companies marks a significant milestone for both businesses and is set to bring new opportunities to the local market.
Lincom Group CEO Stephen Watterson said the partnership with MDS is a testament to company’s core value of supplying only the best-in- class equipment.
“We are thrilled to be the exclusive distributors of MDS heavy-duty rock trommels in key regions. We are excited to be working with such an innovative manufacturer and look forward to bringing their industry-leading equipment to our customers,” he said.
Lincom Group has an established network of sales and service centres to provide its customers with fast and effective support across the equipment lifecycle.
The first MDS M515 track trommel will arrive later this year. This model will come complete with fold- out stockpiling conveyors and is ideal for creating RipRap and recovering rocks that are mixed with clay and other sticky materials.
The Carrapateena operation in South Australia. Image: OZ Minerals
BHP has shed more light on its plans for South Australia after recently acquiring OZ Minerals and its Prominent Hill and Carrapateena copper mines.
“Globally, BHP has the largest copper endowment of any company, based on ownership interest,” BHP chief operating officer Edgar Basto said at the 2023 Austmine Conference.
“In South Australia we have Olympic Dam, which is one of the world’s most significant deposits of copper, gold, silver and uranium. Olympic Dam is a fully integrated processing facility from ore to metal.
“We also added to our copper assets in SA with the acquisition of OZ Minerals, bringing their mines at Carrapateena and Prominent Hill into our portfolio.”
Basto also highlighted BHP’s Oak Dam copper project in SA, where the company was recently given the green light to commence its next phase of exploration.
“Oak Dam is an exciting prospect and potential growth option,” he said. “We’re undertaking further exploration to better define the resource and inform our future planning.
“Anyone who is familiar with the geography of the Gawler Craton will at once see the opportunity that all of this presents.”
Basto said it is important to not look at these mines and projects individually but rather synergetically, with the potential to “build a copper province that could put SA on the global copper map”.
Basto will oversee the integration of Prominent Hill and Carrapateena into BHP’s portfolio, through which he has three core objectives.
“Firstly, (I’m focused on) delivering safe and reliable operations at Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena,” he said.
“Secondly, (I’m focused on) integrating the BHP and OZ Minerals businesses with a focus on people and culture. And thirdly, (on) developing options to build a copper province here in South Australia.”
Basto said for South Australia to realise its copper opportunity, collaboration is needed between the local mining industry and state and federal governments to support policy choices and investments that can enable South Australia to compete on the global marketplace.
“Let me provide some global perspective,” Basto said. “According to Geoscience Australia, Australia is ranked number two in the world for copper resources but number eight in the world for mined copper production.
“Last year, BHP produced more than 1.5 million tonnes of copper globally.
“This year, we expect to produce around 200 thousand tonnes from Olympic Dam. And around 115 thousand tonnes from Carrapateena and Prominent Hill.
“Here in South Australia, we have nearly 70 per cent of Australia’s copper resources but we produce just under 30 per cent of Australia’s mined copper production.
“The Gawler Craton has huge un-tapped potential… just imagine for a moment that we can develop a mining hub centred around a smelter that brings even more of SA’s high quality copper to global customers.”
BHP is putting plenty of eggs in the South Australia basket, with a committed vision to maximise the state’s copper future.
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The Astec GT2612V high-frequency screen has assisted a nickel miner in New Caledonia in re-processing nickel waste.
Astec and mining contractor Salmon NC have developed a bespoke waste retreatment screening solution for a major nickel miner in New Caledonia. And Astec’s screening offerings don’t stop there.
As we near a net-zero reality, there is an increasing need for more materials to develop the necessary green technologies.
Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar require up to five times more copper than comparable non-renewable technologies, while the World Economic Forum believes demand for lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) could surpass three million tonnes by 2030. The world produced 540,000 tonnes of LCE in 2021.
LCE, derived from lithium raw material, spodumene concentrate, is a critical material in renewable batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs).
While primary production will remain key, as mineral demand increases into the future amid growing decarbonisation, mining companies will need to be more creative in how they commercialise their material.
A nickel mine in New Caledonia, some 1200km east of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, is doing just that.
SLN (Société Le Nickel), which operates a nickel smelter and several mines on the island, has established a unique method for recycling nickel slag – a major by-product of the nickel refining process – with the assistance of mining contractor Salmon NC and leading mining equipment supplier Astec.
The recycled nickel slag is sold into a variety of markets, including the abrasives industry in the US, where it is used as a sandblasting medium.
While heavy equipment hire has always been Salmon NC’s bread and butter, chief executive officer Chris Salmon turned to Astec when it came to finding the specialty equipment needed to re-process nickel slag.
“I’d known Astec from a past life when I was involved in basalt quarrying, and they’ve always come really well referenced,” Salmon told Australian Mining. “I’d reached out to some industry contacts explaining what I was trying to achieve and Astec’s high-frequency screens were mentioned a couple of times by people I trusted.”
Salmon got in touch with Shaun Quinn, Astec’s senior account manager, materials solutions – northern region, and before too long an Astec GT2612V high-frequency screen had made its way to New Caledonia.
“Shaun was very helpful in identifying the type of unit we wanted,” Salmon said. “We were looking at fixed and tracked solutions, but we chose the tracked machine because we needed mobility around how we were building our stockpiles.
“We’ve been impressed by Astec’s after-sales support, too. We need that support given we’re quite isolated in New Caledonia.”
The Astec GT2612V high-frequency screen has 10 vibrators that directly-induce vibration into the bed of material at between 3600–4200 revolutions per minute (RPM), to ensure increased probability of stratification and material separation.
A unique media rotary tensioning system used on the high-frequency screens means operators of the GT2612V can quickly and efficiently change screen media when switching between applications, supporting a more efficient and productive operation.
And while the GT2612V is powerful, it’s also versatile.
“The screen itself is made up of four six-by-six-foot panels, with the first panels on each deck having three independently adjustable vibrators,” Quinn told Australian Mining.
“The screen operates between 28–43° of inclination, with the vibrators running at up to 4200RPM with as much as 2mm of stroke, so you can ensure they are optimised for each application.
“On average, these machines can induce around 10g of force into the material if you’re running them flat out, but you can also de-tune individual sections accordingly to stop ‘pop-corning’, or the bouncing of the raw material, from occurring.”
The GT2612V was delivered and commissioned to New Caledonia in November 2022 and has been processing large volumes of material ever since.
The process involves feeding stockpiled nickel slag through a static grid to remove larger agglomerates before it reaches the high-frequency screen, which then refines the product into a usable material.
“Minus-50mm material is sent to the high-frequency screen, which separates anything bigger than 4mm,” Quinn said. “Anything smaller is finished product in this application.”
The GT2612V’s adjustability came in handy when the Salmon NC team discovered the nickel slag material was more abrasive than anticipated.
“This briefly caused some operational issues for us,” Salmon said.
“But the Astec support team was fantastic. They helped us make tweaks and adjustments to settings and flow rates, and alter the way we were processing the material to best deal with its abrasive nature.
“Now we’re getting the best out of the machine itself, and the best operational efficiency.”
Since the six-foot-wide GT2612V arrived in New Caledonia in November 2022, Astec has developed a larger eight-foot-wide, 18-foot-long high-frequency screen. Quinn said the new model, launched at CONEXPO in Las Vegas in mid-March, enables greater capacity.
But when finding the right screen for a customer and for a particular application, bigger is not necessarily better.
“It comes down to what customers are looking for,” Quinn said. “If they don’t have room to set up a fixed plant, and if they want something that’s mobile and able to be utilised in a tighter, confined space – as with Salmon NC and the nickel slag application – the tracked screen is ideal.
“But if you’ve got a bit more room, and you’re going to go down the path of investing in a fixed plant, Astec’s new eight-foot-wide screen is going to be something to consider.
Astec’s high-frequency screens will be increasingly important as mineral demand increases amid growing decarbonisation.
“The bottom line is the technology works and, with its multiple tuning options, we will ensure screens are optimised to suit any application and material.”
Quinn said that just a few weeks on from CONEXPO, Astec had already sold two of the eight-foot-wide screens into the local market.
Astec can also build a ‘hybrid machine’ for its customers.
“The offshoot of these machines is our multi-frequency screen,” Quinn said.
“These incorporate a conventional screening action throughout the whole screen but also utilise our high-frequency technology on the bottom deck.
“The high-frequency action provides additional vibration directly into the media on the bottom deck which helps with separation in finer material or wetter applications.“
Whether it’s the GT2612V, the new eight-foot-wide screen, the multi-frequency option, or any other bespoke screening solution, Astec has a solution to suit any mineral processing application. Astec’s screens are proven in repurposing mine waste for a major nickel miner in New Caledonia, and many other Australian mining companies and contractors can attest to the supplier’s capability.
