PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior developer Carbine Resources has signed a second conditional agreement for future pyrite offtake from its Mount Morgan copper and gold project, in Queensland.
The ASX-listed company on Monday told shareholders that it had executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with sulphur product distributor Jainson Labs India.
The MoU would be used as a mechanism to develop formal offtake agreements for pyrite concentrate from Mount Morgan, for terms of the offtake still to be finalised.
However, Carbine noted that free-on-board sales would be made from the Port of Gladstone, and pyrite production would reach between 100 000 t/y and 200 000 t/y, at around 50% sulphur concentrate.
The Jainson MoU followed a conditional pyrite offtake agreement with industrial mineral distributor Talana, signed in January. Under that agreement, Talana could source between 200 000 t/y and 300 000 t/y of pyrite from the Mount Morgan project.
A 2014 scoping study of the Mount Morgan project proved that the mine could deliver about 36 000 oz/y of gold, 850 t/y of copper cathode and 230 000 t/y of pyrite concentrate over a mine life of eight years.
The scoping study estimated that the Mount Morgan project would require a capital investment of about A$81.9-million, and would have an operating cost of A$32.70/t, while all-in sustaining costs were estimated at $393/oz.