Venturex Resources strikes Whim Creek processing deal

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Venturex Resources (ASX: VXR) has struck a deal with private company Blackrock Metals for the reprocessing of existing oxide copper heap leach pads at the company’s Whim Creek site in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Under the agreement, Venturex has granted Blackrock access rights to the existing Whim Creek oxide copper processing site for the purpose of reprocessing the existing heap leach pads to recover copper metal through a refurbished five tonne per day solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) treatment facility.

Source: Company announcement

Venturex will hold a 15 per cent Net Profit Interest in the reprocessing operation, which the company indicated will be put towards ongoing environmental and administration costs of the overall Whim Creek mine site.

Blackrock have declared the treatment facility to be recommissioned and up and running with first copper cathode production anticipated within the next week.

“This agreement with an experienced SX-EW operator in Blackrock Metals will provide ongoing benefits for all parties involved,” Venturex Resources managing director Michael Mulroney said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We anticipate that the recommencement of processing operations by Blackrock will not only provide a significant financial contribution to management of the overall Whim Creek mine site, but also provide a platform to assess other oxide copper opportunities within the Whim Creek area in the future.

“This continues the company’s strategy of commercialising non-core assets to allow the company to focus on exploring and developing our extensive copper-zinc assets in the Pilbara region through 2014.”

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