PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The mineral resource at the Prieska zinc/copper project, in South Africa, has been estimated at more than 30-million tonnes, grading 3.7% zinc and 1.2% copper, base metals developer Orion Minerals has reported.
The dual-listed company noted that the new resource estimate included an updated resource for the openpit, with 19.13-million tonnes of the resource classified as indicated.
“The completion of the first global mineral resource for Prieska, encompassing all 2018 drilling data, is a great way to start 2019,” said Orion MD and CEO Errol Smart.
“The total mineral resource for the project now stands at over 30-million tonnes, cementing its position as one of the more significant new volcanogenic massive sulphide development projects globally and highlighting its potential to underpin a substantial, long-life mining operation.”
Smart said that while the openpit mineral resource will be included in the bankable feasibility study, which is due for completion by the second quarter this year, it was important to note that the deposit would only be scheduled for mining as part of the Phase 2 operations, later in the project life.
“Our focus remains squarely on the Deep Sulphide mineral resource, which will underpin the first decade of operations at Prieska and play a pivotal role in the company’s imminent transformation into a significant base metals developer this year,” said Smart.
A recent scoping study into the Prieska project estimated that it could produce between 70 000 t/y and 80 000 t/y of zinc and some 22 000 t/y of copper over an initial mine life of ten years.
The Phase 1 project is expected to require a capital investment of around A$300-million to A$330-million to develop the 2.4-million-tonne-a-year project.