PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The construction of the Thunderbird mineral sands project, in Western Australia, will be completed within the A$484-million budget, ASX-listed Sheffield Resources said on Tuesday.
Construction is over 75% complete and first delivery of mineral sands product remains on track for the first quarter of 2024.
“Thunderbird construction is advancing at a rapid pace, and we are extremely pleased by the progress made by the Kimberley Mineral Sands (KMS) team. We remain on schedule for commissioning later this year,” said Sheffield executive chairperson Bruce Griffin.
“Our forecast pre-production activities now include anticipated changes to operational mobilisation and scheduling to reduce startup risk, resulting in an anticipated cost increase. It is pleasing to note that KMS has continued to manage the capital expenditures in line with final investment decision estimates despite the inflationary environment. KMS remains extremely well positioned to complete the project comfortably within the current available funding of A$484-million.”
KMS has estimated the total direct expenditures through to commencement of operations to be A$407-million. After allowance for project financing costs, A$54-million of remaining contingency and working capital provisions are available, with a total funding requirement of A$484-million.
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 tonne a year of zircon and ilmenite concentrates over an estimated 36 year life-of-mine.