PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A prefeasibility study (PFS) into the Admiral Bay zinc project, in Western Australia, is expected to cost ASX-listed Metalicity A$30-million to complete, with the miner saying on Tuesday that the study would take about 18 months to complete.
The new PFS budget has been designed using directional drilling by drilling one parent hole to a depth of around 1 000 m, before exiting the parent hole and core drilling daughter and potential granddaughter holes for multiple intersections into the high-grade zone.
Metalicity said that the new drilling technique would save some A$10-million on the previous PFS cost estimates, and would save up to six months on the study.
The potential to progress to a definitive feasibility study by applying the same directional drilling techniques to convert a relevant portion of the orebody to the measured resource category, will also save costs.
Furthermore, the new drilling technique and budget have reduced the cost to a decision to mine from what was expected to be a minimum of A$300-million to around A$50-million.