In a technical report released in May the Canadian based Copper Mountain Mining Corporation have projected a 15 year life for its massive Eva Copper Project north of Cloncurry.
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CMMC said their new report demonstrated robust economics, and improved the value of the Project compared to an 2018 Feasibility Study, increasing production, reducing costs and extending the mine life.
The Eva Copper Project is 76km north-west of Cloncurry, and 194 km northeast of Mount Isa, 8.5km west of the Burke Developmental Road which connects Cloncurry with Normanton and is 17km south of Mount Roseby homestead.
Formerly called Altona until 2018, the Project is proposed to be a large, open pit copper-gold mining operation with an associated gravity and flotation processing plant, similar to other operations in the region.
Copper Mountain plan to mine 170 million tonnes of ore and 381 Mt of waste from seven open pit deposits, with a minimum projected mine life of 15 years.
The report said mineral Reserves would be mined using conventional earthmoving equipment, and will be hauled to a processing plant by way of haul roads from each pit.
Waste material will be stacked in waste dumps adjacent to each pit, except for some material that will be used to construct the tailings storage facility and bund walls around the open pits.
The processing plant will process 11.4 million tonnes per annum operating at 31,200 tonnes per day through a conventional crushing, high pressure grinding rolls, milling, gravity, and flotation plant, for the fifteen-year life-of-mine duration.
There is already a power transmission line installed by MMG's Dugald River mine 11 km south of the Project while a water pipeline that runs from Lake Julius to the Ernest Henry Mine south of the site.
Current infrastructure located on the Project site itself is minor, and includes dirt tracks for exploration, water points, and fences.
The company said that major infrastructure required to be developed for the Project included processing plant, workshops, laboratory, administration, security, and training offices, seven open pit mines, pit dewatering, diversion channels and bund walls, a Tailings Storage Facility, an 11 km, 220 kV power transmission line from the Dugald River mine, an employee accommodation village to house 300 personnel, a new intersection from the Burke Developmental Road, an 8.5 km-long site access road, and haul roads, water wells at Little Eva, Blackard, and telecommunications infrastructure 2 km north of the Little Eva pit.
The company will have to amend its environmental authority with the state government as the current EA is based on a previous 2016 mine layout.
Copper Mountain said this was a straightforward requirement with application preparation and pre-lodgement meetings.
They will also need to submit a Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure plan as companies carrying out mining activities in Queensland are legally obligated to rehabilitate the land.However they must reach an Estimated Rehabilitation Cost decision prior to submitting the PRC plan.
Their plans also call for the diversion of Cabbage Tree Creek. The government will need to approve detailed plans of that prior to construction commencement.
There is no timeframe yet for the project but the report said the total duration to completion is estimated to be 29 months, from start of early infrastructure engineering. This includes a 19 month project construction duration.
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