Alexandra Eastwood

Weir’s new Port Hedland facility services Enduron® HPGRs along with critical parts storage for faster service times for customers. Image: Weir

De Grey Mining has awarded Weir a contract to supply an Enduron high-pressure grinding roll (HPGR) for its Hemi gold project in the Pilbara.

The contract comes as Weir officially opens its Port Hedland Service Centre to further support its customers in the Pilbara.

De Grey Mining project director Peter Holmes said the company is looking forward to the partnership.

“De Grey Mining is pleased to partner with Weir on one of its key long lead items for its Hemi gold project and appreciates Weir having a local service facility to provide the required support to our site and the region,” he said.

Weir Enduron HPGRs global product manager Bjorn Dierx echoed similar sentiments.

“Our partnership with De Grey Mining further expands our footprint in sustainable comminution,” Dierx said.

“Our proven track record of developing highly engineered solutions for the industry, together with our capability to partner with our customers to bring projects to life, ensures that De Grey Mining will be in good hands to achieve its productivity, sustainability and project execution targets.

“Importantly, Enduron HPGRs also provide significant improvements versus traditional tumbling mill technology with energy savings of up to 40 per cent and in turn, a lower carbon footprint. This will be the fifth, similar-sized Enduron HPGR in the Pilbara region alone, which is a testament to its credibility in high capacity, hard-rock grinding.”

Weir regional managing director Kristen Walsh said the contract elevates Weir’s sustainability goals.

“This win further underscores Weir’s commitment to making mining more sustainable and demonstrates the substantial opportunity that can be made to CO2 emissions reduction when choosing an energy-efficient technology in a large greenfield project,” she said.

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ALEXANDRA EASTWOOD

Alkane Resources’ Tomingley gold project. Image: Alkane Resources

The Tomingley gold operation in New South Wales continues to be a boon for Alkane Resources, meeting its updated production guidance of 55–58,000 ounces (oz).

Tomingley produced 57,217oz of gold for the 12 months to June 30, with production anticipated to be between 70–80,000oz for the 2024–25 financial year.

“Tomingley is steadily increasing production from the Roswell underground,” Alkane managing director Nic Earner said. “Tomingley is now performing well, and the paste plant and flotation circuit upgrades remain on schedule.

“Alkane’s board and management acknowledge and thank the employees and contractors of the company for their strong and continued commitment to safety, production and exploration performance.”

Alkane announced back in June that it was looking to expand key infrastructure at Tomingley, increasing its production to above 100,000oz of gold per year while also expanding the site’s plant to a nominal 1.5 million tonnes per annum.

“The underground at Roswell has begun production, and we expect to produce over 70,000 ounces of gold next year,” Earner said at the time.

“The paste plant and the flotation/regrind circuit are under construction with commissioning expected later this year.”

Alkane blasted the first production stope at its Roswell deposit in April, marking the next milestone in extending Tomingley.

Tomingley’s five-year plan also involves the relocation of the Newell Highway, a project expected to cost Alkane $89 million in capital expenditure. A final investment decision is expected to be made in early 2025.

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OLIVIA THOMSON

Overlooking the Great Australia mine within the Cloncurry project. Image: True North Copper

True North Copper (TNC) has commenced clearing activities and blast hole drilling at the Wallace North deposit that sits within the Cloncurry copper project (CCP) in north-west Queensland.

TNC’s personnel is set operate the dry hire equipment at Wallace North, most of which is already on-site. The company is currently recruiting for the operations team, which is close to finalisation, with a supportive technical team already in place for when mining begins.

Dewatering of Wallace North’s pit area is already well advanced, with all blast hole drilling expected to be in dry holes.

Leading TNC during this next phase of operations is newly appointed managing director Bevan Jones, who commenced his role on June 10.

“We have commenced mining operations at Wallace North, which will allow our CCP to restart copper production,” Jones said.

“This has been our major goal since listing on the ASX (in June 2023). I thank our team for their efforts in moving towards this goal to allow TNC to become Australia’s next copper and critical metals producer.”

The mining ramp-up at Wallace North will initially build ore stockpiles, with road haulage expected to start within a few weeks of start-up.

Oxide ore will be transported by road train to True North’s Cloncurry heap leach. Sulphide ore will then be transferred to a nearby concentrator for toll treatment under True North’s toll-milling agreement with Glencore.

“CCP is estimated to deliver free cash flow of about $200 million at current prices over its 4.6-year initial mine life, based on existing JORC reserves,” Jones said.

“Cash flow from mining will be used to explore further opportunities to build this inventory.”

Wallace North is one of four open-pit deposits that makes up Cloncurry. The deposit currently holds an ore reserve totalling 0.7 million tonnes (probable) grading 1.01 per cent copper and 0.46 grams per tonne gold for 6800 tonnes of copper and 10,000 ounces of gold.

ALEXANDRA EASTWOOD

Image: Phawat/Shutterstock.com

Delta Lithium (18 RICHARDSON STREET, WEST PERTH Western)has upgraded the mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Mt Ida project in Western Australia.

The miner described the MRE upgrade as “major” as it represents an 82 per cent increase in contained gold at the project.

“This is a wonderful result for Delta shareholders, reaffirming our long-held belief that the gold system at Mt Ida has significant scale and upside,” Delta Lithium managing director James Croser said.

“The Baldock is fast becoming one of the very few, large high-grade undeveloped gold deposits in WA in excess of 500,000 ounces.”

Mining approval has already been granted for Phase 1 open pit mining at Mt Ida, with significant potential for further resource growth now being tested as drilling gets underway.

“The commencement of open pit mining has been approved, and the underground approval with the department is submitted and pending,” Croser said.

“We are investigating the best options for Delta shareholders to crystallise value from our gold, which can then be applied to further developing our core lithium business.

“The efforts of Delta’s geology team have been tireless and driven toward this success. We have already started follow up gold drilling at Mt Ida to target resource growth beyond one million ounces.”

TIM BOND

Anna Wiley speaking at Copper to the World 2024. Image: Austmine

BHP’s planned expansion of Olympic Dam could be one of the most significant investments in Australian copper infrastructure in decades.

Speaking at the recent Copper to the World conference, BHP asset president copper Anna Wiley discussed the mining giant’s aspirations for the important metal in South Australia.

“To date, we have unlocked synergies of more than $US50 million ($75 million) per year from our newly combined operations in South Australia,” she said.

“At Olympic Dam, we have invested $1.8 billion over the past five years improving the safety, stability and reliability of our surface processing facilities.

“It’s a big operation – and it’s getting bigger.”

Olympic Dam churned out 212,000 tonnes of copper in the 2022–2023 financial year, and BHP is still making discoveries at depth.

“It’s one of the amazing things about Olympic Dam – we haven’t found the bottom of it yet,” Wiley said.

What’s next?
Wiley touched on BHP’s plans for its copper portfolio in South Australia, which includes:

• Progress and completion of the Prominent Hill shaft that will haul ore to surface from 1.3 kilometres deep
• Transition to a block cave at Carrapateena following the recent commissioning of a second underground crusher this year
• Further underground development at Olympic Dam
• Ongoing studies into a smelter/refinery expansion at Olympic Dam
• A new decline at Oak Dam to complete underground exploration and pave the way for a potential underground mine development.

“In the coming years, we hope to make a final investment decision on an expansion of our existing copper refining facilities at Olympic Dam, to construct a two-stage smelter and associated refinery complex,” Wiley said.

“This has the potential to result in production of greater than 500,000 tonnes per annum of copper – and more than 700,000 tonnes of copper equivalent per annum when you include the by-products of gold, silver and uranium.

“This would constitute one of the most significant investments in copper metal manufacturing infrastructure in Australia for many decades.”

To achieve its copper aspirations, Wiley said it all boils down to partnership and collaboration.

“Investment in skills, training and innovation and a thriving METS (mining equipment, technology and services) sector that builds our collective capability to lead the next generation of technologies and systems will be critically important to South Australia across a range of sectors.”

KELSIE TIBBEN

BHP asset president copper South Australia Anna Wiley. Image: Austmine

BHP South Australian copper asset president Anna Wiley has laid out a copper-focused future for the Big Australian in her address to the Copper to the World conference in SA.

Wiley said SA is home to 70 per cent of Australia’s copper resources, one of only so many world-class copper resources remaining in the world.

“This places additional importance on ensuring we economically extract as much copper as possible from our current operations,” she told the audience.

Citing BHP’s Chile and South American operations, Wiley added the company’s South Australian foothold to the list of assets part of its plan for a future focused on copper.

It’s a plan that has been in the works for a while, culminating in BHP’s $9.7 billion acquisition of OZ Minerals last year, bringing the SA Carrapateena and West Musgrave copper projects into the BHP fold.

“Today, as BHP we operate three underground copper mines and a nationally significant smelter and refinery complex in South Australia’s far north,” Wiley said.

This includes the heart of BHP’s SA copper province, Olympic Dam, which Wiley said the company is hoping to grow with the help of additional smelting and refining plants.

“It’s a big operation – and it’s getting bigger,” she said.

“This has the potential to result in production of greater than 500 kilotonnes per annum of copper – and more than 700 kilotonnes of copper equivalent per annum when you include the by-products of gold, silver and uranium.

“This would constitute one of the most significant investments in copper metal manufacturing infrastructure in Australia for many decades.”

Wiley said BHP’s plan for growth relies on a range of elements coming together, like skills development, the mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector, permitting and approvals, enabling infrastructure, underlying stability, and technology.

“But in one way or another they all boil down to one very important theme: partnership and collaboration,” she said.

“In recent memory it was impossible to imagine change of this pace in the mining industry, and it goes to show that amazing things can be achieved with a common ambition.

“Industry, governments, Traditional Owners, technology providers and communities working together will help bring more copper supply to market to meet global demand more quickly and more sustainably.”

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