The Bushranger Project now contains a combined total of in excess of 1.3Mt of contained copper-equivalent metal, with the shallower high-grade zone at the Racecourse prospect hosting a total of 191Mt @ 0.33% CuEq at 0.2% CuEq cut-off.
Over 35,000m of diamond core drilling has been completed on the Bushranger project by Xtract since acquisition, across two phases of drilling. Results of the drilling resulted in an increased Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource at the Racecourse prospect, for a total of 512Mt @ 0.22% CuEq, at a cut-off of 0.1% CuEq. Additionally, a new mineralised porphyry system named the Ascot Prospect was discovered 1km to the south of Racecourse, and Phase 2 drilling helped define a maiden mineral resource of 87Mt @ 0.22% CuEq, at a cut-off of 0.1% CuEq.
A Scoping Study level metallurgical test work programme yielded encouraging copper recovery results generally running at 89-90% for the copper-gold mineralisation from the Racecourse Mineral Resource, producing a copper concentrate averaging 20% copper and silver at payable levels above 30g/t Au.
An independent open pit mining study carried out by Optimal Mining Solutions and completed using Deswick Pseudoflow was carried out in late 2023, with a focus on the extraction of shallow higher-grade material at the Bushranger Project. Optimal mining investigated the economics of 5Mtpa, 20Mtpa and 25Mtpa operations and concluded that the current Racecourse Prospect Mineral Resource has the potential to be economically mined at mining rates of 20Mtpa, or greater, and at copper prices of US$10,000/t and above.
For more information regarding the Optimal Mining Study, please refer to RNS dated 6 November, 2023.
The final results from the Optimal Mining Study show that the currently defined Mineral Resources on the Bushranger Project have the potential to be the basis of a large scale, economic mining operation, producing significant free cash flows. The outcomes generated from the Mining Study are a solid start to understanding the economics of mining the Project’s mineral resources and show there is considerable upside possible through optimisation of plant capacity, capital costs, operating costs and metallurgical recoveries, along with potential incorporation of ore pre-concentration methods.
In addition, with the discovery of the Ascot prospect, further potential remains at several nearby untested exploration targets for the identification of a cluster of similar resources, adding further value to the project.
