Name of the Project
Parys Mountain copper/lead/zinc project.

Location
North Wales.

Project Owner/s
Anglesey Mining.

Project Description
A scoping study has reported positive results. 

The selected base case envisages a mining rate of 1 000 t/d to produce an average output of 14 000 t/y of zinc concentrate at 57% zinc, 7 200 t/y of lead concentrate at 52% lead and 4 000 t/y of copper concentrate at 25% copper over an initial mine life of eight years.

The study is based on a surface decline to access the White Rock zone. The proposed decline will be developed by mining contractors and used as the initial means of access to the resource for development and mining.

Mined ore will be trucked up the decline to the proposed surface processing plant.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The base case yields a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $33.2-million and an internal rate of return of 28.3%, with a payback of four years.

Capital Expenditure
The initial capital cost for mine development is estimated at $13-million, for the concentrator at $29.5-million, the dense-medium separation plant at $3-million and infrastructure at $10-million, for a total of $53-million. A $4-million contingency provision is included.

Planned Start /End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Optimisation work to determine the optimum production plan for the Parys Mountain copper/lead/zinc project is moving steadily ahead, with results expected by the end of the year.

The objective of the optimisation study, undertaken by QME at no cost to project owner Anglesey Mining, is to determine a production plan for the mine using available and potential means of accessing the indicated resources and inferred resources at various cutoff grades.

In its preliminary work to date, QME has identified the potential for improvements in the development plans of the 2017 scoping study, which was based on mining only the 2.1-million tonnes of indicated resources reported by Micon in 2012. Micon had reported a further 4.1-million tonnes of inferred resources that were not incorporated into the scoping study.

The QME studies have suggested that the project could be further improved if the potential mineable tonnage could be increased using a lower cutoff grade and generating a revised mine development plan.

“This second stage of the process is ongoing, with completion scheduled for the end of 2019. Subject to financing being available, this work would then form the basis for commissioning an updated scoping or preliminary feasibility study,” the company has said.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Micon and Fairport Engineering (scoping study) and QME (optimisation study).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Anglesey Mining, tel + 44 1407 831275 or email mail@angleseymining.co.uk.