JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Terramin Exploration (TEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Terramin Australia and its joint venture (JV) partner, Environmental Copper Recovery (ECR), have completed the maiden on site recovery (ISR) resource estimate for the Kapunda copper project, near Adelaide, South Australia.
The JV is now investigating the potential to extract copper through ISR from the shallow mineralised halo around the historic Kapunda mine workings. Following an extensive review of historical drill data, historical mining records along with additional testwork, TEL and ECR have estimated a combined resource of 47.4-million tonnes at 0.25% copper using a 0.05% copper cutoff.
The resource estimate is only in respect of that part of the Kapunda mineralisation that is considered amenable to ISR (copper oxides and secondary copper sulphides) within TEL's tenement EL 5262 and only reports mineralisation that is within 100 m of the surface.
Adelaide Chemical's (ACC's) 1992 estimate was the last documented resource at 4.3-million tonnes at 1.1% copper, or 47 000 t copper.
Kapunda has been considered a stranded deposit, with the Kapunda mine historic site heritage listed and the proximity of the township of Kapunda. The ISR method is considered to be a viable method of extracting the copper in this location.
"Terramin is pleased with the outcomes of the Kapunda project to date. The resource estimation at 119 000 t of copper is above expectations and at the current copper price of $7 000/t, the company is eager to see the results of ECR's ISR modelling and testwork," Terramin's Martin Janes said.
The studies at Kapunda will be undertaken under the terms of a JV agreement between TEL and ECR.
Aim- and ASX-listed Thor Mining is earning up to a 60% interest in ECR, which in turn is earning, from Terramin, up to a 75% interest in the mineral rights and claims over the portion of the historic Kapunda copper mine.