PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Commissioning of the process plant at the Thunderbird mineral sands project, in Western Australia, is under way with owner Sheffield Resources saying the project is tracking within its original budget of A$484-million.
“With commissioning activities well underway at Thunderbird, we are on track to deliver first ore production during the next quarter,” said executive chairperson Bruce Griffin.
“Our expenditure forecast remains within our original final investment decision budget of A$484-million, which is an outstanding achievement and a credit to the Kimberley Mineral Sands team and contractors associated with the Thunderbird project. We look forward to announcing first production in the forthcoming quarter and forecast first shipment of product in the first quarter of 2024.”
The two-stage Thunderbird development pathway sees the initial Stage 1 mining and processing feed rate forecast at 1 085 t/h at the wet concentrate plant (WCP), with Stage 2 doubling the WCP feed rate to 2 170 t/h targeted during Year 5 of operations.
Stage 1 and 2 of operations is estimated to produce 1.4-million tonnes a year of zircon and ilmenite concentrates over an estimated 36-year life-of-mine.