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Birla Mt Gordon OperationOverviewThe Mt Gordon operation is located in northwest Queensland, approximately 120 km north of Mt Isa.
Figure: Surface layout of Mt Gordon operations BackgroundCopper oxide mineralisation was first discovered in the district at Mt Oxide in 1882, followed by the discovery of the Mammoth deposit in 1927. This was intermittently worked on a small scale until 1969, with copper in concentrate and copper cathode produced from the Mammoth deposit between 1969 and 1995. Aberfoyle purchased the operation in 1995 and delineated the Esperanza deposit before being acquired by Western Metals Limited in 1998. Aditya Birla Minerals acquired the operation in November 2003. GeologyThe Mt Gordon project area lies on the Mt Gordon fault zone, a major fault separating the metasedimentary rocks of the Mt Isa sequence from the younger metasediments to the west.
Figure: Mt Gordon local geology and ore deposit location Mt Gordon ore reserves and mineral resources as at 31 December 2005 are shown below.
Notes
Mining operations are focused on the Mammoth underground mine, following the exhaustion of the Esperanza open pit in November 2005. The operation has the ability to produce both copper in concentrate through a standard flotation plant and copper cathode through a ferric leach plant utilising low pressure and temperature autoclave technology followed by SX–EW treatment. Due to currently available ore sources which are more amenable to concentrate production, copper cathode operations were suspended in January 2006. Copper in concentrate is trucked to Cloncurry, railed to Townsville and then shipped to Hindalco Copper’s Dahej copper smelting and refining facility in India. Copper in concentrate produced is sold to Hindalco under a LOM off–take agreement based on arm’s length terms. Mining of the currently known reserves at Mammoth is scheduled to be completed in December 2007. Mt Gordon has an estimated mineral resource of approximately 500 kt of copper. The majority of this mineral resource occurs at Mammoth, within the Esperanza system below the present open pit or within the standalone Esperanza South resource. Conceptual studies are in progress that demonstrate an immediate potential mine life extension without further ore discoveries. |
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