Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Bench stoping
- Sub-level stoping
- Unconsolidated rockfill
|
Production Start | ... |
Mine Life | 2027 |
Mining ore containing copper and gold from the Pedra Branca underground mine and processing it at the processing facilities located at the Antas mine which support the Carajás East Hub in Brazil. The Carajás East Hub generates revenue from the sale of concentrate containing copper and gold to customers in Europe and Asia. |
Source:
p. 187,218,221
The Pedra Branca mine is held by AVB Mineração Ltda, a wholly owned Brazilian subsidiary of OZ Minerals Brazil (Holdings) Pty Limited, who owns the rights to 100 per cent of the project.
On May 2, 2023, BHP announced the completion of the OZ Minerals acquisition and implementation of the scheme of arrangement for BHP Lonsdale Investments Pty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP Group Limited, to acquire 100% of the shares in OZ Minerals Limited (OZL) (the Scheme). BHP Group Limited is now the ultimate parent company of OZL.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- IOCG
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
Summary:
Pedra Branca iron oxide copper gold deposit is hosted within the Carajás Mineral Province which is located in the southern part of the Amazon Craton. Locally the craton is overlain by metavolcanic–sedimentary units of the Rio Novo Group and the 2.76 Ga Itacaiúnas Supergroup. The Itacaiúnas Supergroup hosts all the known Carajás iron oxide copper gold deposits and is thought to have been deposited in a marine rift environment. The Carajás Mineral Province represents one of the best endowed mineral districts in the world and contains the world’s largest known concentration of iron oxide copper gold deposits including the, Salobo, Igarapé Bahia, Alemão, Cristalino, Gameleira, Furnas, Alvo 118, Antas, Pedra Branca, Santa Lucia and Pantera deposits.
The Pedra Branca deposit consists of two distinct bodies, Pedra Branca East (PBE) and Pedra Branca West (PBW). Both exhibit typical IOCG features such as hydrothermal alteration types (sodic, calcic-sodic, calcic-ferric and potassic-ferric) and mineralisation style characterised by chalcopyrite + pyrrhotite ± pyrite in semi-massive levels, blebs, strings and disseminations.
Simplistically the geology of the PBE deposit is characterised by a series of strongly foliated to gneissic granitic composition footwall rocks to the north and a foliated diorite to granodioritic composition series of hanging wall rocks to the south. Between these two units a felsic mylonite shear zone is located which also hosts hydrothermal lithotypes dominated ........
Mining Methods
- Bench stoping
- Sub-level stoping
- Unconsolidated rockfill
Summary:
Mining ore containing copper and gold from the Pedra Branca underground mine and processing it at the processing facilities located at the Antas mine which support the Carajás East Hub in Brazil.
The proposed mining method is sublevel stopping in longitudinal layouts with backfill in bench stopping configurations where mining starts in the base of the panels and progresses laterally and upwards in a bottom-up sequence. Backfill will be of waste from development until the third panel (Level 925), after which point it will be necessary to bring waste from the exhausted Antas Mine.
The stope optimisation was run with minimum mining widths as of 3 metres (0.5 metres dilution to hanging wall and footwall) and minimum 8 metres wide pillars between adjacent stopes in parallel lenses.
A minimum mining width of two metres is assumed with a minimum 8 metre pillar width between adjacent stopes in parallel lenses. Mining recovery is assumed at 90 percent to account for the rib pillars and ore losses. Dilution for stopes is assumed as an envelope obtained from the expansion of the stope walls for 0.5 m out towards each host rock. Development dilution is an assumed at 15 percent additional tonnes at a zero grade.
Mining at the project is underway with decline and level development having reached the third level of the orebody.
The Company achieved a significant milestone with the start of mining ore from stopes at Pedra Branca, the first of the satellite mines to be realised under t ........
Source:
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Production:
Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual (Projected) |
Copper
|
kt
| 18 |
Gold
|
koz
| ...... |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2023 | 2021 |
Ore tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... |
Waste
| ...... | ...... |
Total tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... |
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Reserves at June 30, 2023:
Mineral Resources Cut-off based on NSR value of US$52/t.
Ore Reserves Cut-off based on NSR for two regions of the mine: US$62/t above the upper mining level (925) and US$68/t below the 925 mining level.
Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineral Reserves.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Proven
|
0.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.66 %
|
Proven
|
0.6 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.49 g/t
|
Probable
|
2.8 Mt
|
Copper
|
2.06 %
|
Probable
|
2.8 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.53 g/t
|
Proven & Probable
|
3.4 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.99 %
|
Proven & Probable
|
3.4 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.52 g/t
|
Measured
|
1.5 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.55 %
|
Measured
|
1.5 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.45 g/t
|
Indicated
|
8.3 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.68 %
|
Indicated
|
8.3 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.43 g/t
|
Inferred
|
7.3 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.38 %
|
Inferred
|
7.3 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.36 g/t
|
Total Resource
|
17 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.54 %
|
Total Resource
|
17 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.41 g/t
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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