PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper and gold miner Oz Minerals on Friday said that it remained on track to reach its full-year production guidance, despite lower output during the three months to March.

Total copper production for the first quarter ended March reached 27 442 t, with the Prominent Hill project delivering 25 575 t and the Antas operation 1 867 t. Gold production for the quarter reached 34 648 oz, with Prominent Hill delivering 32 947 oz, while Antas produced the balance.

The March quarter results were lower than the 29 482 t of copper and 40 052 oz of gold produced in the December quarter, as slightly lower underground haulage volumes, resulting from manning and equipment availability constraints, affected operations at Prominent Hill.

“The year has started strongly. Carrapateena underground development has now reached first ore, Prominent Hill is on track for annual guidance and we have continued to progress our growing pipeline of projects and studies,” said Oz Minerals MD and CEO Andrew Cole.

“Underground development at Carrapateena remains critical path and we are continuing to see development rates increase as additional work areas come on line. The minerals processing plant and nonprocessing infrastructure construction have all continued on schedule and the project is on track for commissioning in the fourth quarter.”

For the full year, copper production is expected to reach between 97 000 t and 109 000 t, with between 95 000 t and 105 000 t coming from the Prominent Hill operation, and between 2 000 t and 4 000 t coming from Carrapateena.

Full-year gold production is expected to reach between 118 000 oz and 131 000 oz, with Prominent Hill delivering between 115 000 oz and 125 000 oz, and Carrapateena between 3 000 oz and 6 000 oz.

Meanwhile, Cole noted that Oz Minerals’ review of the Antas mineral resource was also nearing completion, with the full 2019 guidance for the project to be released in the second quarter. He added that optimisation studies at Pedra Branca have resulted in a number of adopted design improvements and the mineral resource update will also be completed in the second quarter.

“Our growth pipeline continues to evolve and planning has commenced on several projects within the Red Metal discovery alliance. The drill programme at the Punt Hill joint venture was completed during the quarter and we terminated our agreement with Woomera Mining.”

Meanwhile, Oz Minerals has also earned a 70% interest in the West Musgrave project by spending A$36-million on exploration and a prefeasibility study for the Nebo-Babel deposit.

The study is scheduled for completion late in the second quarter, or early in the third quarter.

“Our confidence in the Nebo-Babel deposits has improved with the resource update released today, which saw infill drilling result in conversion of inferred resources to the higher indicated category. The current study phase has been focused on developing core mining and processing concepts and we are investigating a range of new opportunities to increase project value,” said Cole.

The project is now estimated to contain some 238-million tonnes of indicated and inferred mineral resource, containing some 838 000 t of nickel and 908 000 t of copper metal, with 141-million of this tonnage classified as indicated and 98-million tonnes as inferred.

Oz Minerals will continue to sole fund the Nebo-Babel studies until a definitive feasibility study and decision to mine is delivered.