PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands developer Sheffield Resources has reported a maiden ore reserve of 683-million, grading 11.3% heavy minerals, for its Thunderbird project, in Western Australia.
“Releasing a maiden ore reserve is the final step in closing out the Thunderbird prefeasibility study (PFS) and moving to a bankable feasibility study (BFS) on the project,” said Sheffield MD Bruce McFadzean.
The PFS was based on a conventional dozer trap mineral sands mining operation, involving an initial 12-million-tonne-a-year throughput, increasing to 18-million tonnes a year, to produce an average of 100 000 t/y of zircon and 382 000 t/y of high-grade sulphate ilmenite over the 40-year mine life.
The project was expected to require a capital investment of A$296-million.
“The maiden ore reserve also further supports the quality of the Thunderbird asset as one of the largest undeveloped zircon-rich mineral sands project in the world,” McFadzean said.
He added that the company had finalised the scope of the BFS and a tier-one study manager would be announced within the next month.
Furthermore, Sheffield was also continuing with native title negotiations and work towards securing environmental approvals for the Thunderbird project. Marketing and financing options would also be pursued in parallel with the BFS and approvals process.
“Thunderbird is an exciting, long-life project that has attained lead agency status with the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum, which supports its significance and the long-term benefits Sheffield believes it will deliver to the state and communities of the Kimberley,” McFadzean noted.