PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Sandfire Resources on Thursday reported that copper production for the three months to June had reached 14 293 t, as its DeGrussa project, in Western Australia, continued to ramp-up.
The project had achieved its 1.5-million tonne a year nameplate throughput, and ramp-up of the underground mine towards the same output was also nearing completion, Sandfire told shareholders.
The Stage 2 openpit operation was mined out in April and marked the completion of openpit operations at DeGrussa. Underground mining during the quarter under review also progressed on schedule, with five stopes now in various stages of development and production.
Full underground production rates of some 125 000 t/m would likely be achieved by the end of the September quarter, the miner said.
For the full 2014, the DeGrussa mine was expected to deliver between 65 000 t and 75 000 t of contained copper, as well as between 35 000 oz and 45 000 oz of gold.
Meanwhile, Sandfire on Thursday also reported that the DeGrussa life-of-mine had been extended until late 2020 following the success of extension drilling during the quarter under review.
The mineral resource at DeGrussa increased to 13.4-million tons, grading 4.7% copper and 1.9 g/t gold at the end of March, for some 634 000 t of contained copper and 795 000 oz of contained gold.
The increase in the mineral resource was driven by an extension to the Conductor 4 deposit and a significant thickening of the Conductor 5 deposit, which resulted in the addition of 66 000 t of contained copper and 149 000 oz of contained gold, more than replacing production depletion.