PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Initial studies at junior Coda Minerals’ Elizabeth Creek project, in South Australia, have proven positive for the ASX-listed company.

Coda on Tuesday said that a scoping-level mining study completed on the Emmie Bluff copper/cobalt deposit, had found that it could support a production rate of 2.5-million tonnes a year over a 17-year mine life, with the deposit producing 26-million tonnes of ore at 1.86% copper equivalent.

The shallower MG14 and Windabout deposits are expected to deliver a further 1.3-million tonnes, at 1.42% copper and 371 parts per million (ppm) cobalt and 6-million tonnes at 1.03% copper and 667 ppm cobalt respectively. This mineralisation will supplement the Emmie Bluff material and will provide mill feed during the ramp up and development of the underground mine.

“This is a critical breakthrough and very exciting achievement by our development team at Elizabeth Creek. At the heart of this is the Emmie Bluff underground mining study, which demonstrates that this deposit can be productively mined using conventional mining methods, reducing the project’s risk profile,” said Coda CEO Chris Stevens.

“The flat-lying geometry and narrow nature of the lodes at Emmie Bluff make it a more challenging proposition from a mechanised hard rock mining point of view than some Australian mineral deposits, which tend to have a greater vertical dimension. However, this style of mineralisation is commonly mined in Africa and Europe, and we are pleased to have now demonstrated a suitable mining method with strong throughput at reasonable mining costs.

“As a scoping level study, there are clearly a number of areas that we will address as part of the next level of studies including the potential to optimise and bring forward early production rates, consideration of alternative mining methods including mechanical cutting, and the potential for more efficient fleets including electric mining vehicles. However, this study represents an excellent base case and we are very pleased with the results.

“The completion of this study, and in particular the key physicals and mine scheduling data that have been generated, represent some of the final key inputs towards the completion of the Elizabeth Creek scoping study. We are now moving rapidly towards finalising the scoping study, with integration of the mine plan, capital and operating cost estimates and completion of the financial model. We are on track to complete this work and deliver the study by the middle of the first quarter of 2023,” said Stevens.