Blackthorn eyes underground mine at Kitumba
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The prefeasibility study (PFS) on ASX-listed Blackthorn Resources’ Kitumba copper project, in Zambia, has flagged a $358-million development cost.
An underground operation has been chosen as the preferred base case, as it offered a lower capital cost and higher capital efficiency, the miner said on Tuesday.
Under the PFS, the project would deliver an annual run-of-mine production of some three-million tonnes to deliver 39 000 t of copper. Kitumba would have a mine life of some 11 years, delivering 572 000 t of contained copper over the life of the project, at an average cash cost of $2.04/lb.
At a copper price of $3.50/lb, the Kitumba project would have an internal rate of return of 12.7% and a net present value of $108-million.
MD Scott Lowe pointed out that work has already started on optimisation studies focusing primarily on metallurgical recovery and mining sequence, which had the potential to further enhance economics.
“The completion of the PFS for Kitumba, along with identification of optimisation and value enhancement potential is a very important milestone for the company and the latest in a series of positive developments since BHP Billiton exited the joint venture just two years ago.”
Lowe noted that Blackthorn had chosen a smaller-scale underground operation, rather than a large openpit mine, to allow the company to target the higher-grade zone much earlier, and to avoid expensive and time-consuming pre-strip.
“The economic comparison clearly showed that the internal rate of return is better for the underground scenario, with a significantly lower preproduction capital cost.”
He added that the timing of the PFS was also important for the preparation of a mining licence.
“Our immediate priorities are to work through the optimisation exercise while examining a range of strategic alternatives for the project to map out the path to production that was in the best interest of shareholders.”
A feasibility study was expected to start early in 2014.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation