The project includes six non-sulphide lead deposits being Magellan, Cano, Pinzon and Gama within the Magellan Hill area, and Pizarro and Drake within the Finlayson Range area. The mineralisation is mainly hosted by Paleoproterozoic (1.8 Ga) quartz-clay breccia, clay, siltstone and sandstone units of the Yelma Formation, although mineralisation occurs in sediments of both the Yelma Formation and the underlying Juderina Formation in the Pizarro and Drake deposits of the Finlayson Range.

The Yelma Formation outcrops as a mesa of approximately 5 x 2.5 km in the Magellan Hill area, and is raised above the surrounding alluvial plain by 25 - 50 m. The surface of the mesa is covered by weathered material from the underlying quartz clay breccia, mainly silcrete, quartz and chert colluvium and scree.

The soil Pb anomalism tapers gradually down slope towards the shallow alluvial plain at the foot of the mesa and can be seen to swing around to the south east, influenced by the seasonal sheetwash and West Creek drainage towards Lake Way.

Ore at the Paroo Station Mine is extracted via drilling and blasting from a series of open pits on Magellan Hill. Excavators are then used to dig and load ore and waste into 85t haul trucks. Ore is mined concurrently from a number of faces to provide a homogenous blend to the concentrator, and ore is stockpiled and further blended on the run of mine (ROM) pad. Grade control is enhanced by testing every blast hole in the orebody and in the near vicinity of the ore body.

Short term planning is based on additional grade control drilling and sampling of blast holes ahead of mining. The waste dumps are located adjacent to the Cano and Magellan pits. The mining has been carried out to date by a mining contractor.

All open pit ore production from the Mine is processed through the Paroo Station Mine concentrator. Ore is processed through a conventional flow sheet consisting of the following main steps:
• Crushing
• Grinding
• Concentration of non sulphide lead-bearing minerals is carried out by sulphidising froth flotation.
• Lead concentrate product dewatering and handling.

Ore is delivered to the ROM pad by haul trucks from the mine. It is separated into ore stockpile “fingers” and withdrawn by front-end loader and blended as required. Stockpiled ore is fed into the ROM bin over a static grizzly screen. Crushed ore is conveyed to a two-stage closed circuit grinding section. Primary crushed ore is fed directly to the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill feed chute and ground in a SAG mill. Hydrocyclone overflow goes to the flotation feed surge tank, the underflow is divided with two thirds.

Flotation concentrate is thickened to 67% w/w solids by two thic ........