Name of the Mine
Peak mine.

Location  
Cobar, central west New South Wales, Australia.

Mine Owner/s  
Aurelia Metals.

Brief Description
Peak mine comprises several polymetallic underground mines, as well as a gold and base metals processing plant.

The plant is supplied with lead, zinc, gold and copper/gold ores from several active underground mining areas, including Chronos, Perseverance Deeps, S400 and Kairos at the South mine and Jubilee at the North mine.

Brief History  
Aurelia completed the purchase of Peak from New Gold in April 2018.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
The ore zones at Peak mine are characterised as gold- and copper-rich.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
The ore zones are characterised as gold-rich, with copper/lead/zinc by-product credits in the southern mine corridor, and copper-rich, with gold/silver/lead/zinc by-product credits to the north.

Geology/Mineralisation  
The Peak mine is one of a north-south cluster of structurally controlled gold, copper and lead/zinc deposits distributed along a linear, largely shear-controlled contact between two early Devonian units, the sandstones and siltstones of the Chesney Formation, and the overlying siltstones and mudstones of the Great Cobar Slate. This cluster of occurrences is distributed over an interval of about 11 km, with the Peak mine being near the southern end. This shear zone is close to the eastern margin of the Devonian rift into which these sediments were deposited.

Mineralisation at Peak is contained within the north-northwest-trending Peak shear, an anastomosing, thrust-type fault zone that is subparallel to the aforementioned contact described, and is about 3 km long and up to 300 m wide. It parallels the prominent regional cleavage and transects a series of parasitic folds on the regional anticline whose axis is to the west.

Reserves  
Total Peak mine proven and probable copper reserves as at June 30, 2023, were estimated at two-million tonnes grading 1.8% copper, 1.7 g/t gold and 5 g/t silver.

Total Peak mine proven and probable zinc/lead reserves as at June 30, 2023, were estimated at 710 000 t grading 6.1% zinc, 5.1% lead, 0.4% copper, 2.6 g/t gold and 22 g/t silver.

Resources  
Total Peak mine copper resources as at June 30, 2023, were estimated at 16-million tonnes grading 1.8% copper, 0.9 g/t gold and 6 g/t silver.

Total Peak mine zinc/lead resources as at June 30, 2023, were estimated at three-million tonnes grading 4.6% zinc, 3.3% lead, 0.7% copper, 1.8 g/t gold and 23 g/t silver.

Type of Mine
Underground.

Mining Method  
Open stoping with a combination of loose rock fill and cemented rock fill.

South mine access is through shaft access and a boxcut and decline from surface.

North mine access is through the New Cobar openpit and decline.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
Peak comprises a polymetallic underground mine, a primary crusher (underground), a semiautogenous grinding mill, a ball mill, gravity gold and intensive leach, base metals flotation and gold carbon-in-leach circuits plus three concentrate filtration facilities.

Prospects  
Drilling at Peak and its deposits is currently focused on further extensions of the existing orebodies across the North and South mines, including Kairos, Peak North, Perseverance and Chesney. Additional near-mine drilling is focused on evaluating the potential of high-value line-of-lode targets between the main deposits.

Contact Details
Aurelia Metals
Tel +61 7 3180 5000
Email office@aureliametals.com.au

Sources
Aurelia Metals. Website: https://aureliametals.com/
Aurelia Metals. Financial report for the year ended June 30, 2023 (August 30, 2023).

PorterGeo. Website: https://portergeo.com.au/