Fresh from its spectacular purchase of Ernest Henry mine, Australian company Evolution is now looking at extending the life of its Cloncurry asset.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Just days after spending $1 billion to buy the mine from Glencore, Evolution have provided the ASX with a forward looking investor presentation statement with plans to increase the mine life.
Evolution have called Ernest Henry a "transformative acquisition" and a world-class asset in a Tier 1 jurisdiction operated to a consistently high standard that will generate immediate material increase in cash flow generation.
The presentation said it had 600 employees and contractors, a mixture of residential and fly-in fly-out / drive-in drive-out and the management team would transition to Evolution at completion of takeover in early January.
Importantly Evolution said EHM had significant extension potential with drilling results indicating ore 4 body extension at depth.
READ ALSO:
Ernest Henry generated $323m of operating cash flow and A$309m of net mine cash flow for Evolution in financial year 21 and Evolution's original investment has been repaid in less than five years.
Evolution said the current mine life was for another five years but their concept study findings give confidence of a four to five year mine life extension.
The Pre-Feasibility Study is expected to complete expected in the September 2022 quarter including a design and production plan, an optimal materials handling solution, assessment of options for additional power and updated capital cost estimate.
Ongoing drilling will further develop ore body knowledge with 15km planned in 2022 and Evolution executive chair Jake Klein told ABC it could go even further if they can tap into the lower-level mineralisation.
"How far does this deposit really go? We'll like to see a 15 to 20 year mine life," he said.
Mr Klein said they had no plans to changing staffing at the mine though Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell had spoken to him about reducing FIFO.
"It is a challenge to attract people to regional areas so it's something we'll work on but at this stage we're not planning a change to working conditions of the staff," he said.
Mr Klein said they would retain the name Ernest Henry Mine.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
Bookmark https://www.northweststar.com.au/
Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on Google News