PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The joint venture (JV) partners in the Barbara copper/gold project, in Queensland, have taken the decision to include an on-site ore processing facility as part of the feasibility study work.

ASX-listed Syndicated Metals on Wednesday announced that JV partner CopperChem would extend the scope of the current feasibility study to incorporate on-site ore processing, using a transportable plant, which would be installed and managed by CopperChem.

The addition of the processing facility was expected to unlock a range of significant benefits for the Barbara project, particularly in terms of operating costs, refining and selling charges for the copper concentrate, and for up-front capital expenditure.

The original feasibility study was based on a two-year openpit operation at Barbara, with ore haulage to the CopperChem plant in Cloncurry.

Syndicated noted that while the openpit feasibility has been progressed to an advanced stage, the JV partners had also decided to expand the scope of the study to incorporate the new processing scenario and to include other additions to the Barbara mineral resource inventory, which could provide a mine life of between five and seven years.

Syndicated MD Andrew Munckton said on Wednesday that the improvements to the feasibility study could substantially improve the economic and financial returns from the Barbara project, particularly when combined with the possibility of extensions to the resource inventory as a result of further exploration at a number of prospects.

“In particular, we have recently confirmed with our geophysical consultant the presence of an exciting exploration target in the form of a strong down-hole conductor at the Barbara mid lode. This target will be a priority for drilling in early 2015, along with further work to expand the resource at Lillymay and test other satellite exploration targets,” Munckton said.

Meanwhile, the expanded feasibility study was set for completion by the third quarter of this year.