Orion delays copper study results after bringing in experts
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ORION Minerals has extended the deadline for a study into its Prieska Copper Zinc Mine (PCZM) in South Africa’s Northern Cape province to the first quarter.This follows the appointment of a new project manager and a team of consultants who previously worked on the underground extension of Palabora Copper, the last major copper project to have been undertaken in South Africa.Errol Smart, CEO of Orion Minerals, said on Tuesday former South32 and Rio Tinto general manager Nick Fouché and Australia’s LMMS Consultants had identified further possible improvements to the project given the complex nature of the PCZM orebody. LMMS had been contracted for a three month period to complete the PCZM bankable feasibility study.“The Prieska Mineral Resource has unique geometry, being folded through dip rotations of almost 3200 and having mineralised true widths varying from two metres to 45m,” said Smart in a statement to the JSE today.“While it has been relatively simple to select suitable mining methods to extract this superb orebody, the iterative process required to optimise the appropriate mining methods in different mining areas to achieve optimum ore recovery and cash-flow is proving time consuming,” he said.Meanwhile, a second feasibility study for Flat Mines Project, which is part of Orion Minerals’ Okiep Copper Project (OCP), also in the Northern Cape but several hundred kilometres away, was on track for external review in mid November. Completion of this study was due this year.PCZM is targeting an initial 12-year mine producing 22,000 tons of copper metal and 70,000 tons of zinc metal a year, according to a presentation on Orion’s website. A scoping study for OCP indicates pilot phase production of 102,000 tons of copper in saleable concentrates annually, the presentation said.In July, Orion raised A$3.6m (R44m) through a share purchase plan, largely from South African investors, in order to continue financing its feasibility studies. If funded ‘today’ Orion could be in production at Prieska and Okiep in a year because all that was needed was construction of concentrator plants for each mine, said Smart.The post Orion delays copper study results after bringing in experts appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com
Quelle: Mining.com