Name and Location
Deflector gold/copper project, Australia.

Client
Mutiny Gold.

Project Description
The Deflector project is located in the South Murchison region of Western Australia.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) completed in October 2012 confirmed a low-cost premium gold/copper project, which would support a seven-year mine life, comprising a two-year openpit operation and a five-year underground operation.

In September, Mutiny released the results of the updated DFS, based on the life-of-mine inventory, which confirmed the project as highly profitable, with significant upside.

The updated DFS defines an operation initially based on a two-year openpit and a five-year underground mining operation, along with milling and processing on site to produce gravity gold doré and gold-copper concentrate.

The openpit will be mined using selective drill-and-blast methods using 100 t hydraulic excavators for overburden and ore removal and 100 t trucks for ore and waste haulage. Ore will be drilled, blasted and excavated on 5 m benches.

The underground mining method is long-hole open stoping from a single decline. Stoping will follow a top-down sequence, starting at the extremities of each level and retreating to the level of access. Rib pillars will remain between adjacent stopes to maintain mine stability. No backfilling of the stope voids is planned; however, there may be opportunities in parts of the mine to dispose of waste rock in stope voids, which would reduce the truck haulage requirements. This method reduces development metres and provides quick access to ore, requiring minimal capital to be spent upfront, while maximising the recovery of the orebody.

The openpit mining rate will be 480 000 t/y, with the underground operation initially operating at 380 000 t/y and increasing to 480 000 t/y and producing 498 000 oz of gold equivalent over an initial 6.25 year life-of-mine.

The Stage 1 mill upgrade will incorporate the installation of a second ball mill and additional float cells, which will be commissioned in the third year of production, allowing for underground production to ramp up from 380 000 t/y to 480 000 t/y.

The Stage 1 upgrade will increase production rates in the second half of the initial project life from an average of 68 000 oz/y of gold equivalent to 88 000 oz/y of gold equivalent.

If future drilling campaigns are successful and the target resource of 1.5-million ounces of gold is achieved, a Stage 2 upgrade is planned to increase underground production from 480 000 t/y to 800 000 t/y of primary ore, lifting production from 88 000 oz/y of gold equivalent to about 150 000 oz/y of gold equivalent.

The Stage 2 upgrade will incorporate a second decline at Deflector and a significant plant upgrade to handle the extra production.

Value
Start-up capital has been reduced from $91-million to $62-million.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
None stated.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Widenbar & Associates and Continental Resource Management (geology resource definition); Entech Mining (openpit and underground mining); Woolard Consulting (environmental aspects and permitting), Mutiny Gold, GR Engineering Services and SGS Lakefield Oretest (metallurgy); GR Engineering Services (process plant development and costing); DE Cooper & Associates (tailings storage facility review); and Mutiny Gold and Corality Financial Group (financial analysis of project).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Mutiny Gold, tel +61 8 9368 2722, fax +61 8 9474 3011 or email mgl@mutinygold.com.au.
Widenbar & Associates, tel +61 8 9641 2877.
Entech Mining, tel +61 8 6189 1800.
Woolard Consulting, tel +61 418 950 237 or email lynn@widenbar.com.au.
GR Engineering Services, tel +61 8 6272 6000.
SGS Lakefield Oretest, tel +41 22 739 91 11 or fax +41 22 739 98 86.
DE Cooper & Associates, tel +61 8 9380 6921.
Corality Financial Group, tel +44 20 7947 4019.