Name of the Project
Jervois base metals project.

Location
About 17 km north-east of Orrtipa-Thurra (Bonya) community, in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Project Owner/s
KGL Resources.

Project Description
KGL plans to reopen the Jervois mine – a brownfield site previously mined for copper, lead and zinc.

A December 2020 prefeasibility (PFS) has demonstrated an economically robust project, with average production of 30 000 t/y of copper, 893 000 oz/y of silver and 8 600 oz/y of gold over an initial 7.5 year operating life.

The initial mine plan is largely based on the project’s Joint Ore Mineral Reserve Committee-compliant mineral reserve of 9.4-million tonnes at 2.41% copper, 32.9 g/t silver and 0.39 g/t gold, and involves openpit mining at the Reward and Bellbird deposits, as well as underground operations accessed through declines at these deposits.

The mill production rate is estimated at 1.6-million tonnes a year.

The processing flowsheet includes a single-stage crushing circuit, with a conventional semiautogenous grinding mill and ball mill grinding circuit. The flotation circuit will comprise roughing, cleaning and recleaning stages.

Potential Job Creation
An estimated 230 people will be employed during the construction phase and 300 during operations.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of A$177-million and an internal rate of return of 23.1%, with a payback of 38 months.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital is estimated at A$200-million.

Planned Start/End Date
KGL plans to start development in the second half of 2021, subject to a final investment decision.

Latest Developments
KGL Resources is targeting a final investment decision on its Jervois copper project by the first quarter of 2022, after having had to extend the timeline for the feasibility study.

“The industry-wide shortage of drill rigs and drill rig crews, together with Covid-related problems of site access, is affecting our resource development drilling programme, as well as exploration drilling,” MD Simon Finnis has said.

Further, mining and construction contractors are having difficulty providing firm quotes while trying to manage the labour resource challenges across that sector because of uncertainties in the Covid-19 environment. Having considered these factors, KGL has elected to extend the feasibility study and final investment decision.

The feasibility study is well advanced, with the initial major costing packages, including those for mining, the processing plant and logistics costs, having been received, and mine and infrastructure planning nearing completion.

Drilling designed to improve the confidence of the mineral resource and extend the proposed mine life is being prioritised, and an updated resource estimate is expected to be released in November.

Concurrent metallurgical testwork is well advanced and is aimed at improving the recoveries of copper, as well as valuable gold and silver by-products, thus boosting expected revenue.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Xenith Consultants (ore reserve report); Entech (mining study); Mining Associates (resources); Pimo and KGL (mining analysis); Sedgman (processing); Knight Piésold and TMM; Balanace Advisory (marketing and logistics); and Core Metallurgy (metallurgy).

Contact Details for Project Information
Lithium Americas, email info@lithiumamericas.com.