Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The life-of-mine extension at the Northparkes copper/gold mine, in New South Wales, has been approved by the federal and state governments, the operating arm of China Molybdenum said on social media.
China Molybdenum acquired an 80% shareholding in the project from mining major Rio Tinto in 2013, in a deal worth $820-million.
“Northparkes has received full approval for our mine life extension project which extends our mine life until 2032,” Northparkes said online.
The Northparkes mine has been operational since 2004, and covers some 10 314 ha of land, with the mining lease covering 1 630 ha. The operation consists of underground block cave mines and an ore processing plant producing high-grade copper and gold concentrate, which is railed to Port Kembla and shipped to smelters in Japan and China.
The project currently has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant reserve of 107.5-million tonnes of ore, at 0.81% copper equivalent, for 667 000 t of copper. The project also has a measured and indicated resource of 471-million tonnes, at 0.70% copper for 2.67-million tonnes of copper.