Austral Resources Making Copper Mountain out of Anthill
COMMODITY CAPERS: Austral Resources (ASX: AR1), although only recently listed in November 2021, boasts a strong portfolio of copper projects, including Anthill, Lady Annie, Cameron River, and Miranda, all at various stages of development.
Of these, the Anthill project is the most advanced, containing a JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource estimate of 13.8 million tonnes at 0.7 per cent copper.
The Anthill project area lies 45 kilometres from the Mt Kelly processing facility within the Lady Annie project, the tenements of which sit in the Western Fold Belt of the Mount Isa Inlier.
Austral Resources had a mining study completed by CSA Global in April 2021 resulting in a JORC 2012 compliant Ore Reserve of 5.1 million tonnes at 0.94 per cent copper containing 47,700 tonnes of copper.
The company is mining the ore from two pits with total recovered copper from the heap leach process anticipated to produce 40,400 tonnes over a 44 month period.
The company recently announced first ore haulage from the new Anthill mine to the Mt Kelly processing plant with the intention to begin Anthill ore processing by the end of April 2022.
“The first Anthill ore delivery to our processing facility represents a significant milestone achievement for the company,” Austral Resources chief executive officer Steve Tambanis said.
“Ore stacking onto the heap leach pad is expected to begin in late April and first plates of Anthill copper cathode will be produced in May 2022.
“From July onwards, copper cathode production is expected to exceed 1,000 tonnes per month.
“Rapidly increasing production and higher than forecast copper prices will combine to see healthy sales revenue from May.
Over 4 million tonnes of overburden has been moved since 6 January this year.
“When full scale haulage commences with 125 tonne road trains, each train contains sufficient copper to produce one tonne of recovered copper cathode or more thanUS$10,000 per train at current copper prices.
“The crushing circuit successfully processed its first rock as part of the refurbishment and commissioning process.”
With plant refurbishment finishing and full scale ore production on the horizon, Austral is on track to hit planned copper production of 10,000 tonnes per annum from mid-2022.
Email: admin@australres.com
Web: www.australres.com
Directors: Phillip Thomas, Dan Jauncey, Jeffrey Innes, Michael Hansel