PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Red River Resources has reported a solid quarter at its Thalanga base metals project, in Queensland.

Copper production from Thalanga in the June quarter reached 3 565 t, up from the 3 068 t produced in the previous quarter, while zinc concentrate production decreased slightly from 6 959 t to 6 311 t in the same period.

Lead concentrate production from Thalanga declined from 1 613 t to 1 350 t during the quarter under review.

Copper sales volumes for the June quarter reached 3 398 t, while 6 261 t of lead and 1 471 t of zinc were sold. Red River also started gold concentrate sales to Glencore from its Hillgrove gold project during the quarter under review.

Some A$31.6-million in revenue was generated for the quarter, with A$28.3-million from base metal concentrate sales at Thalanga operations and A$3.2-million from Hillgrove gold mine.

Red River on Thursday also announced an increase in the Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource at Hillgrove, to 7.23-million tonnes, grading 4.5 g/t gold and 1.2% antimony, containing 1.04-million ounces of gold and 90 000 t of antimony. This was a 54% increase in gold and a 20% increase in antimony, compared with the previous resource estimate.

“It’s a fantastic milestone to grow our Hillgrove resource to more than one-million ounces of gold and 90 000 t of antimony, making Hillgrove the ninth largest antimony resource in the world, in the best location,” said Red River MD Mel Palancian.

“Hillgrove has significant growth potential both in resources and scale. All deposits remain open and we have defined a large number of targets and control the whole mineral field, so we are confident that we can continue to build the scale of the Hillgrove project. Drilling has also shown there is halo mineralisation that has not previously been identified and pursued.

“Building the scale of the Hillgrove project is considered to be a significant value creating opportunity for our shareholders and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of our future exploration and drilling over the coming quarters.”