Name of the Project
Prieska zinc/copper project.

Location
The project is located 270 km south-west of Kimberley, in the Northern Cape, South Africa.

Client
Orion Minerals.

Project Description
The Prieska zinc/copper deposit has been recorded as one of the world’s top 30 volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits.

The mine was operated from 1971 to 1991, when it was closed and the site rehabilitated.

Initial metallurgical testwork at the proposed project has yielded positive results, demonstrating Prieska’s potential to produce high-quality marketable zinc and copper concentrates.

The results confirm that the remaining Prieska mineralisation, intersected to date, also responds well to metal concentration using froth flotation and recoveries, which might match or exceed historical performance.

Optimised rougher flotation conditions to produce differentiated copper and zinc concentrates from the deep sulphide target have also been determined, as have preliminary rougher conditions to produce a bulk copper and zinc concentrate from the shallow 105 Level target (openpit). Historical rougher flotation conditions have been improved through varying reagent dosages and using supplementary modern reagents. The resultant rougher products are well suited to upgrading in cleaner circuits to produce saleable products. Cleaner flotation testwork is continuing. Orion MD and CEO Errol Smart has indicated that the project will likely comprise an openpit and an underground operation, with the openpit to produce ore while the underground operations are dewatered and re-established.

The baseline project that Orion is evaluating envisages the mine producing about 100 000 t/m. This rate would translate into 12 000 t/y to 15 000 t/y of copper concentrate and 20 000 t/y to 25 000 t/y of zinc concentrate – consistent with the mine’s historical output.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
None stated.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
The project could start production by 2020. The project timeline envisages the completion of a Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource estimate by the first quarter of 2018, the lodging of a mining right application in the second quarter, feasibility study results by the fourth quarter and the start of construction of the plant in mid-2019. The proposed underground operation will likely start production by 2022.

Latest Developments
Following the recent release of the maiden mineral resource for the Prieska zinc/copper project, Orion Minerals has said it will target the completion of a bankable feasibility study (BFS) on the project by October.

Orion Minerals CEO Errol Smart has said it will continue regional exploration to find and identify satellite deposits that might come become satellite operations in the longer term as satellite operations.

Smart has indicated that Orion identified several additional targets, which could rank extremely high on the basis of the technology the company has.

The maiden mineral resource of 24.2-million tonnes, containing 873 655 t of zinc and 297 129 t of copper, also demonstrates the value of modern exploration techniques and the methodology applied to high-quality, underexplored deposits, Smart has said.

“As we intensify our regional exploration, having recently completed a regional airborne electromagnetic survey, we are confident of success in making further major discoveries in the Areachap belt,” he said.

“Orion will, therefore, continue to drill out the resource and hopes, within the next two to three months, to bring out another resource upgrade,” Smart has said, noting that the Jorc-compliant resource will be upgraded in late March or in early April and will be converted to a reserves statement thereafter.

Five rigs will continue to drill on the property while Orion is awaiting the assay results of several intersections being analysed in the laboratories.

Meanwhile, Orion will lodge the mining right application for the Prieska project under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act within the next month.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Orion Minerals, +61 3 8080 7170, fax +61 3 8080 7174 or email info@orionminerals.com.au.