Name of the Project
Broken Hill cobalt project.

Location
New South Wales, in Australia.

Project Owner/s
Cobalt Blue Holdings.

Project Description
The Broken Hill project aims to develop the Pyrite Hill, Big Hill and Railway cobaltiferous pyrite deposits.

The 2020 updated study delivered significant enhancements, compared with the 2018 prefeasibility study (PFS).

The project’s probable ore reserve increased by 55%, from 46.3-million tonnes at 819 parts per million (ppm) cobalt in the 2018 PFS to 71.8-million tonnes at 710 ppm cobalt in the 2020 updated study.

The production target for the project has increased from 58.7-million tonnes at 802 ppm cobalt in the 2018 PFS to 98-million tonnes at 690 ppm cobalt in the 2020 updated study, with contained cobalt increasing from 47 000 t to 67 000 t.

The project’s projected operating life has also increased from 13 to 18 years, with average production expected to reach between 3 500 t/y and 3 600 t/y of cobalt.

Broken Hill will use a multi-openpit mining scenario that will extract ore using conventional drill and blast, load and haul, and dump processes. The operation is planned to use excavators and rigid body trucks along with a fleet of auxiliary equipment.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 7.5% discount rate, of A$770-million.

Capital Expenditure
The updated study has estimated that the preproduction capital expenditure for the project will now be A$70-million less than previously expected, at about A$560-million, inclusive of an increase in the front-end mining and concentrate throughput capacity, from 5.25-million tonnes to 6.3-million tonnes.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Cobalt Blue has started underground development at the Pyrite Hill operation to support demonstration plant activities.

An estimated 3 500 t to 4 000 t of ore will be mined at Pyrite Hill to support 20 weeks of continuous operation of the demonstration plant.

Two underground development drives will provide access laterally to the cobalt/pyrite mineral resource and allow for representative samples to be obtained. This is important to ensure that unbiased engineering data is generated from the demonstration plant for the Broken Hill cobalt project’s feasibility study.

Site establishment works have been completed and excavation of the boxcut is well advanced, with installation of the decline portal to start shortly. The decline will extend about 80 m, and intersect with the orebody about 40 m below surface.

“Demonstration plant activities are coming together nicely, with mining under way and processing equipment being received. Last year, our successful pilot plant opened the door to new partners. These large-scale demonstration plant cobalt samples are a game changer for Cobalt Blue, providing operating proof for project equity/debt funders and . . .  high-quality production scale samples for commercial partners,” CEO Joe Kaderavek has said.

Upgrades and modification to the 2021 pilot plant are well advanced. The throughput of the leach plant has been upgraded from 40 kg/h to 125 kg/h. Key major equipment items are arriving at site – larger leach vessels, oxygen and nitrogen plants, and kiln and sulphur recovery equipment. These will be installed between March and April, with the plant ready to process concentrate from the mine site in early May.

Trials and commissioning of individual processing circuits are ongoing. Recent work has focused on optimising the solvent extraction separation of cobalt as part of the refining of mixed hydroxide product into high-purity cobalt sulphate.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Cobalt Blue Holdings, tel +61 2 8287 0660 or email info@cobaltblueholdings.com