PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold major Newcrest Mining on Monday announced that the company would proceed with a feasibility study on the Stage 1 development of the Wafi-Golpu project, in Papua New Guinea.
A 2012 prefeasibility study (PFS) identified an improved business case for the project by splitting the project into two stages, with Stage 1 targeting the higher-value Golpu deposit.
“By targeting the high value core of the ore body first, we have increased the economic returns from the mine by being cash flow positive earlier in the life of the mine, as well as funding the infrastructure that will support stages of ore extraction and processing,” said Newcrest MD and CEO Sandeep Biswas.
“Progressing Stage 1 to the feasibility study stage aligns with Newcrest’s strategy of profitable growth through low-cost operations.”
The PFS indicated that the Stage 1 project would require a capital investment of some $2.3-billion, with first production forecast by 2020.
The Stage 1 development would consist of two block cave mines, with the initial mine expected to produce at a rate of three-million tonnes a year. The first cave would b replaced by a deeper block cave by 2024, which would operate at a steady-state of six-million tonnes a year.
The Stage 1 project was estimated to have a mine-life of some 27 years and would, at peak, deliver an annual production of 320 000 oz of gold and 150 000 t of copper.
The Wafi-Golpu project, which has a mineral resource of some 20-milion ounces of gold and nine-million tonnes of copper, is a joint venture between Newcrest and Harmony Gold Mining.
The Stage 1 feasibility study work would run in parallel with an updated PFS for the Stage 2 development, and both were scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015.