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Australia

Broken Hill Operation

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Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Zinc
  • Lead
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Longhole open stoping
  • Pillar extraction
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SnapshotThe Broken Hill Operations consist of three underground mining areas: Southern Operations, Potosi Operations, and North Mine. The North Mine was placed on care and maintenance in 2023.

Perilya Ltd. has not regularly reported production data since its 2013 delisting from the ASX. As a privately held company (owned by China’s Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet), Perilya’s detailed financial results are not disclosed in the same way as a public company.

In January 2025, the Southern Operations were temporarily suspended due to an underground fire; operations resumed gradually following regulatory clearance.

The Potosi Operations are nearing completion, with mining expected to cease by December 2024. Perilya has partnered with Hydrostor to repurpose the site for a 200 MW / 1,600 MWh compressed-air energy storage project.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co.,Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Perilya Broken Hill Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Perilya Broken Hill Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Perilya Limited and is the entity which owns and operates the mining operations based in Broken Hill in New South Wales.

Perilya is owned by Zhongjin Lingnan Mining (HK) Company Limited of Hong Kong. It bought the remaining 48% of the shares that it did not already own in December 2013, and de-listed Perilya from the Australian Stock Exchange. Zhongjin Lingnan is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co., Limited, China, which is 39.23% owned by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, and is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Broken Hill-type (BHT)

Summary:

The Broken Hill deposit lies within the Broken Hill Group of the Palaeoproterozoic Willyama Supergroup and consists of nine separate but closely related orebodies that are stacked within a single stratigraphic package in the Hores Gneiss of the Broken Hill Group.

The impression that the Broken Hill orebodies are all massive sulphides with little else has long been dispelled.

Not only can different styles of mineralisation be identified but the information also gives valuable insights into the ways the deposit has responded to deformation and also to the predeformation characteristics of the deposit and therefore its genesis.

Massive sulphides form only a minor part of each orebody and are most common in deformed regions of the lenses. Sulphide-rich mineralisation is more often coarsely banded by variations in gangue mineral and sulphide abundance. Each orebody contains a high percentage of gangue minerals, including primary calcite, calcium or manganese pyroxenoids or pyroxenes, or quartz, that are distributed through the mineralisation as discrete bands, layers and stratigraphic horizons. Sphalerite (marrnatite) is the dominant sulphide constituent of all ore lenses and the percentage of galena diminishes in each orebody from 3L to BL.

The Broken Hill Line of Lode is hosted by the upper Broken Hill Group of the Willyama Supergroup. The Line of Lode is an approximately 9.5km long, northeast – southwest striking, approximately boomerang-shaped orebody, with the “arms” plunging to depth. The Line of Lode consists of five major ore lenses (1, 2, 3, A and B Lenses) surrounded by a zone of disseminated mineralisation referred to as the C Lens. Typically, the upper lenses (2 and 3 Lenses) are lead rich, while the lower lenses (1, A and B Lenses) are zinc rich.

The geological setting of the North Mine is broadly similar to the rest of the Line of Lode, with each of the lenses occurring within the Lode. Mineralisation within the North Mine is typically associated with:
• Sphalerite (zinc sulphide);
• Galena (lead sulphide) with variable silver; and
• Tetrahedrite (copper antimony sulfosalt) with silver.

Typical combined grades of lead and zinc range from 5% to 40% within the high-grade zones, with silver grades between 50g/t and 400g/t in the galena rich lenses.

In November 2021, SKR undertook further mineralogical assessment of soils and materials at the Mine Site. SKR (2022) identified sulphur bearing minerals comprising the following.

• Sulfides – sphalerite and galena;
• Sulfates – anglesite, gypsum and Szomolonkite/gunningite; and
• Hydroxysulfates – jarosite, beaverite and beaudanite.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnits202220212020
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Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

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Workforce

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
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Aerial view:

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