PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Restart work at the Mt Lyell copper project, in Tasmania, has resulted in a 130% increase in the ore reserves.

ASX-listed New Century Resources on Thursday told shareholders that the project’s initial ore reserve had been estimated at 23.9-million tonnes, at 1.14% copper equivalent, for 246 000 t of copper and 198 000 oz of gold.

The restart prefeasibility study (PFS) for the Mt Lyell operation is under way, and targeted for completion by the second half of this year. New Century noted that the project mine life of the restarted operations would be more than ten years, based on the initial ore reserve, and on the historical mining rate of up to 2.4-million tonnes a year.

The initial ore reserve represents only 18% of all mineral resources currently delineated at Mt Lyell.

“Mt Lyell is shaping up as one of the largest near-term copper production assets on the ASX, aided by the extensive infrastructure in place and a proven production history of high quality, low-carbon copper, utilising low-cost renewable energy from hydroelectric power,” said New Century MD Patrick Walta.

“New Century’s restart development work to date has delivered an initial ore reserve at Mt Lyell significantly larger than anticipated, with a mine life projected out greater than 10 years on this ore reserve alone. Material upside is clearly evident within the substantial Prince Lyell and Western Tharsis ore bodies, with drilling to occur during 2022 to realise this upside in ore reserve growth.

“The company is well-positioned to bring Mt Lyell through the restart PFS process and ultimately into production, supplying green copper into a market projected to be in significant supply deficit within the next three to five years.”

The restart PFS is assessing the known underground mineral resources at the Prince Lyell, Western Tharsis and potentially other known ore bodies at Mt Lyell. Updated costs and financial modelling will be undertaken as part of the restart PFS to better understand the capital and operating costs of the project.