Hillside is an Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) style deposit, located within the Moonta Subdomain of the Olympic Dam Cu-Au Province on the eastern Gawler Craton of South Australia.

The geological framework at Hillside is dominated by due north trending faulting and geological contacts. These dominant trends are disrupted by a number of north-west and north-east striking faults which appear to have an influence on the host rocks, alteration and the copper-gold mineralisation.

Copper-gold mineralisation is hosted by a sequence of intensely altered skarns and metasediments. The primary copper zones comprise parallel, steeply-dipping structures of massive, disseminated and dispersed sulphide dominated by chalcopyrite with subordinate bornite and chalcocite.

Secondary (oxide) copper exhibits flat lying to steeply dipping orientations immediately above primary copper mineralisation dominated by malachite with subordinate azurite, cuprite, atacamite, chrysocolla, copper in chlorite and native copper.

Mineralisation which predominantly strikes north-south has so far been observed over the area of 2.3km north-south length and a 900m west-east width. At least four structures with individual coppermineralised strike lengths of +2.0km have been defined to date. Copper mineralisation within all structures remains open along strike and at depth, and has been observed from as shallow as 5m below surface to 710m below surface with true widths estimat ........

The mining method was based on open pit mining, utilising hydraulic excavators and trucks for primary haulage, with drill and blast practices for rock breakage and wall control. Ramps were designed for exiting and entering the pit carrying two-way traffic, to achieve production requirements.

Previous haul road design widths of 35m have been increased to 40m as part of future-proofing production rates.

Open pit mining dimensions (minimum Selective Mining Unit (SMU)) are 3m x 3m x 5m. Mining dilution was added by creating an SMU and then adding 0.25m edge dilution. Overall dilution is approximately 5% to the Mineral Resource.

A minimum mining width of 35m was applied.

The Stage One Mine Plan open pit is value optimised and is designed in five phases. Rock movement is scheduled to ensure adequate operating area and access to ore.

After an initial pre-strip of 54Mt, the strip ratio for the operating life is 6.9:1 (waste tonnes : ore tonnes).

Peak total rock haulage is approximately 65Mtpa. Almost 90% of all material (ore and waste) will be mined with 550t hydraulic backhoe excavators, coupled with a fleet of ultra-class (296t) trucks, using the double-benching method. Narrower ore zones will be mined with 250t backhoe excavators to minimise dilution and improve ore recovery. Peak material movement is achieved with a manageable maximum of 17 trucks. The Project has a typical support fleet which includes drills, mid- ........

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