Following a drill campaign in 2008, numerous large-scale copper-gold intersections were identified at Hillside, leading to its discovery and recognition as an Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) style deposit.

The 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 6.7:1 (waste:ore). Peak total rock haulage is 60Mtpa. 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 doublebenching 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 16 trucks.

The Project has a typical support fleet which includes drills, mid-sized graders, tracked and wheel dozers, front-end loaders and water and service trucks.

The processing plant has a designed throughput capacity of 6 Mpta. It includes initial crushing and grinding before a first stage (rougher) flotation. This is followed by a fine grind and second stage (cleaner) flotation, before preparation for transport as a copper-gold concentrate.

The average copper grade of the copper concentrate is over 27% and the average annual copper concentrate produced over the first 12 years of operations is approximately 129,000t.

The layout for the processing plant allows for natural expansion capacity to a nominal 12Mtpa and the inclusion of an iron ore recovery circuit (if warranted), as per the conditions of the Mineral Lease.