Name and Location
Hillside copper project, York peninsula, Australia.

Client
Rex Minerals.

Project Description
The Hillside copper mine will be an opencut and underground mine producing a copper/gold concentrate and a magnetite (iron-ore) concentrate.

The concentrates will be transported through a 12 km underground pipeline system to Port Ardrossan for filtration and shipping using the upgraded existing loading facility. The final openpit is planned to be about 2.4 km long from north to south, 1 km wide and 450 m deep.

Underground mining will be conducted to the north and south of the openpit.

The processing plant includes crushing, grinding and flotation and magnetic separation processes to produce copper/gold and iron-ore concentrates. Concentrates will be pumped to the port facility through the underground pipeline. Supporting infrastructure at the mine site includes ore stockpile areas, workshops, fuel storage and sheds, sewage-treatment systems, water supply dams, administration offices and a visitors camp facility.

Waste rock from the openpit will be disposed of in three waste rock dumps (WRDs) to the north, south and west of the openpit.

The largest will be the Western WRD, which will contain a purpose-built dam (tailings storage facility) to permanently store the material (tailings) left once the copper, gold and iron-ore have been removed in the process plant.

The openpit design extends across the existing Yorke highway, moving inland towards Minlaton, requiring the closure of a 4.4 km section of the Yorke highway. An alternative highway to the south of the Hillside mine site will be constructed before the highway closure.

To avoid temporary road closures during operations, a section of the St Vincent highway will be moved outside the influence of the mining operation and closer to the coast.

At Port Ardrossan, new infrastructure will be built to cater for the Hillside mine and will include a filtration plant to wash the concentrates, storage sheds, water storage ponds and a seawater intake system.

The existing shiploading facility is not currently suitable for the loading of concentrates.

Upgrading this facility will result in the shiploader conveyor being fully enclosed with an upgraded loader to meet Environmental Protection
Authority requirements for loading concentrates and to ensure the protection of the marine environment.

Ship movement at the port will increase by about 56 ships a year.

A new power line will be built from the Ardrossan West substation to the port and along the western side of the Yorke highway to the Hillside mine site.

The optimal production rate identified for the Hillside project is estimated at 15-million tonnes a year. At this level of production, it is proposed that the Hillside project could deliver more than 110 000 t/y of copper equivalent production.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
The current schedule contemplated for the development of the Hillside project envisages the commissioning of the Hillside mine in late 2015, with full production capacity available in 2016.

Latest Developments
The South Australian government has approved the mining lease for Rex Minerals' Hillside copper project, formally offering the company the mineral tenements covering the project.

A recently updated mine plan showed that the flagship copper project would deliver more than 75 000 t/y of copper, 60 000 oz/y of gold and more than 1.2-million tonnes a year of iron-ore concentrate during the first ten years.

Rex has told shareholders that the tenements comprise a mining lease, an extractive minerals lease, and an associated miscellaneous purpose licence that allows for mining, mineral processing and the provision of power and water corridors.

Rex Mineral MD Mark Parry has said that the company will consider the terms of the offer and the conditions before accepting the offer.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Hyundai and Amec (early contractor involvement).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Rex Minerals, tel +61 8 8299 7100 or email info@rexminerals.com.au.
Amec, Frank Stokes, tel +44 7712 008356 or email frank.stokes@amec.com.