Name and Location
Thalanga zinc restart project, Queensland, Australia.

Client
Red River Resources.

Project Description
The Thalanga plant is currently on care and maintenance.

A restart study on Thalanga envisages the restart of production at the 650 000 t/y Thalanga processing plant, near Townsville, in Queensland.

The study has highlighted several outstanding project qualities and has confirmed the economic viability and low risk of the proposed mining operation.

The study is based on production from three deposits – West 45, Far West and Waterloo.

The study envisages that Red River will sequentially mine the West 45, Far West and Waterloo deposits. The planned mine designs and schedules for West 45, Far West and Waterloo are based on industry-standard Australasian mechanised underground mining techniques.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an estimated net present value, at an 8% (real) discount rate, of $84-million and an internal rate of return of 61%.

Value
Preproduction capital is estimated at $17.7-million.

Duration
The project has a short timeline of about six months to restart production, after the Red River board makes the final investment decision.

Latest Developments
The results of the restart study have confirmed Red River’s strategy to restart production at the Thalanga restart project. Based on the positive results of the study, the company plans to progress long-lead time items, combined with project and corporate development activities, to start production at the project in 2016. Key areas of additional work include continuing discussions with potential offtake partners and mining contractors; and further consideration of the various financing options available to restart production.

Given the very strong exploration potential of the project, ongoing exploration activities will continue to be progressed by Red River, in parallel with planning a restart of production at the project.

Over the next 12 months, Red River plans to execute a high-impact exploration strategy involving resource definition drilling and systematic target testing. The company will also continue to investigate opportunities to increase mining rates at Thalanga to enable the Thalanga plant to operate at full processing capacity of about 650 000 t/y.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Red River Resources, tel +61 3 9095 7775 or fax +61 3 9670 5942.