PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Ore reserves at the DeGrussa and Monty copper/gold operations are sufficient to underpin current production until the third quarter of 2022, ASX-listed Sandfire Resources reported.

Production at DeGruss and Monty would continue while construction of Sandfire’s new Motheo-T3 copper project, in Botswana, moves towards completion.

“Based on current mining and processing rates, the current ore reserve at DeGrussa and Monty will allow high-grade, low-cost copper production to continue at full pace right through to the September quarter of 2022.

“This will put us in the best possible position to capitalise on the current strong copper price and maximise cash generation from what has without question been one of the best copper orebodies discovered anywhere in the world in recent times.

“Importantly, this will provide us withan exceptional runway to pivot to our next growth chapter as we complete construction and prepare to commence operations at the new Motheo project in Botswana in early 2023, completing our transformation into a diversified international copper producer.

“In parallel with the development activities at Motheo, we are also undertaking studies to assess the potential for a gold transition strategy at DeGrussa based on the development of the Old Highway gold prospect, leveraging the existing processing facilities on site.

“We are also maintaining a significant exploration push across our extensive tenement holdings surrounding the DeGrussa and Monty mines, with extensive programs of aircor, reverse circulation  and diamond drilling underway along the prospective stratigraphic horizons to assess the potential for new discoveries,” Simich added.

“This ongoing exploration campaign includes the ultra-deep diamond hole which has recently been completed on the Red Bore tenement, targeting the interpreted offset position down-plunge of Conductor 5. We are eagerly awaiting the results of down-hole electro-magnetic surveys on this important hole.”

The underground ore reserve at DeGrussa and Monty have been estimated at 2.6-million tonnes, at 4.7% copper and 1.4 g/t gold for 120 000 t of contained copper and 117 000 oz of contained gold.

The underground mineral resource at the two projects are estimated at 2.8-million tonnes, at 5.8% copper and 1.9 g/t gold for 164 000 t of contained copper and 170 000 oz of contained gold.