Name of the Project
Lihir Phase 14A project.

Location
Papua New Guinea.

Project Owner/s
Newcrest Mining.

Project Description
Lihir Phase 14A project was approved in January 2023.

Phase 14A represents an extension of the Phase 14 cutback, which involves safely steepening the walls of the pit using civil engineering techniques to access the existing indicated mineral resources, which would otherwise have been inaccessible if standard mining techniques were used.

Ore mined from Phase 14A will displace lower-grade ore feed to the processing plant, with about 13-million tonnes of high- and medium-grade ore expected to be fed through until the 2026 financial year to produce an incremental 400 000 oz of gold.

At the completion of Phase 14A mining, the high wall is expected to be buttressed with backfill to provide long-term stability.

The buttressing results in the sterilisation of about 550 000 oz of contained low-grade gold at the bottom of Phase 21 that would have otherwise been mined from 2032. The project is expected to have a five-year mine life.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a net present value of $202-million and an internal rate of return of 48%, with a payback of 2.9 years.

Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure on a real basis is estimated at $280-million and a nominal basis of about $296-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Mining of Phase 14A started in the June 2022 quarter and will continue until the 2027 financial year.

Latest Developments
Study work is under way to apply steep-wall mining in the north and east of the Kapit orebody, with the potential to extend the elevated production profile beyond the 2031 financial year.

The design optimisation and associated impact on the longer-term production profile is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023.

Further, following completion of the seepage barrier feasibility study in October 2021, an alternative seepage barrier design, the nearshore soil barrier (NSB) option, is being studied.

The NSB would be situated between the No Coffer Dam limit and the existing shoreline of the Inner Harbour, about 500 m west of the proposed Kapit seepage barrier (KSB). Initial work indicates that the NSB would be a simpler solution, faster to build and less costly.

A prefeasibility study level assessment of the NSB option is under way and is expected to be completed in 2023.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Newcrest Mining, tel +61 3 9522 5333 or email corporateaffairs@newcrest.com.au.