The Cadia East deposit is hosted within the Forest Reef Volcanics and porphyry intrusions. A north-east trending mass of narrow sheet like dykes of monzonitic to dioritic compositions intrude the lower parts of the FRV at Cadia East. These intrusives are largely restricted to the eastern half of the deposit although some narrow dykes and isolated bodies of monzonite have been recognised in the western end. At the upper western end of the deposit immediately underneath the Gibb Fault, isolated narrow intersections have been identified with south dipping mineralised quartz veining. These occurrences are interpreted to be the Cadia Hill Monzonite.

The Cadia East–Far East deposit occupies a mineralised zone 2.5 km in strike length, 600 m in width and over 1,900 m in vertical extent. It is located below and to the east of the Cadia Hill deposit.

Geology
Mineralisation is developed in the FRV, and in a series of subvertical to steeply northdipping monzodioritic to quartz monzonitic dykes, that are termed the Cadia Far East intrusive complex (CFEIC). The syn-mineral nature of at least some of the intrusions is indicated by the presence of mineralised xenoliths within monzonite porphyry dykes that also host porphyry-style veining and alteration.

The Weemalla Formation has been intersected at depth, and consists of finely-bedded siltstone interbedded with basaltic volcanic rocks. Overlying this unit are five lithofacies of the FRV:

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PC1-2 is the next panel cave for execution at Cadia its development is expected to recover approximately 20% of Cadia’s published Ore Reserves. This asset is the next production zone required to supply ore to the mill.

Development of PC1-2 is expected to sustain total Cadia mine production at approximately 35 million tonnes per annum as production from the current operational PC1 and PC2 caves begin to decline from FY24.

PC1-2 is a post-undercut cave utilizing blast pre-conditioning as well as hydrofracking to facilitate caving. Total production from the cave is 280 Mt with an annual production capacity of 24 Mtpa from 146 draw bells and a 115,600 m² footprint. The cave requires approximately 32 km of lateral development. It contains common capital development that enables PC1-3 to take place in future. Main works development has commenced, with development forecast to be completed in January 2027. PC1-2 adjoins PC1 (to the East) and consists of nine extraction drives, the most eastern of which breaks into PC1. PC1-2 is supported by two crushers on the north and south of the footprint. The design throughput for the Materials Handling System (MHS) is 36 Mtpa including support for the deferred PC1-3 to be mined concurrently. Production is forecast to commence in FY26.

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