The Franke area exhibits a shallowly dipping anticline fold striking N20-40°W. It is slightly steeper on the southwest flank (up to 20°) than on the northeast flank (5-15°). Bedding along the axis of the anticline is an almost horizontal crest zone about 100-200 m wide, as observed in the underground workings dug into this area. However, previous studies have suggested that this anticline also plunges to the NNW and SSE, defining a gently dipping structural dome.

Flanking the sub-horizontal crest zone of the anticline, several steeply dipping N25-35°W/70- 80°E faults are apparently one of the main mineralization controls for the emplacement of high grade copper in the Franke deposit. The other control is given by the segments of the N60-70°W structural trend.

The geometry of the ore zones in the Franke deposit is closely related with this particular structural arrangement: while the mineralization at the flanks of the anticline is typically formed by one or more ore horizons of limited thicknesses (1 to 5 m), the mineralization within and near the structural corridors located near the anticline crest, tends to be thicker and higher in grade, forming 10 to 30 m thick mineralized blocks separated by relatively thin barren horizons.

There appears to be a crude outward zonation of alteration centered roughly on the top of the Franke deposit but it is distorted by the several vein-stockwork zones that similarly exhibit more intensive alteration a ........

The selected mining method is an open pit mining, where haul trucks are used to deliver mineralized material to a primary crusher for crushing and placement onto heap leach pads. The crusher is located west of the final pit, while the single waste disposal area is planned to be north of the final pit. It is scheduled to be completed in three horizontal platforms, with heights between 30 and 35 metres.

The haul road width of 16 m is approximately four times the width of these haul trucks which allows for two-way traffic and a safety berm on the outside edge of the road.

Pit Design Parameters:
- Bench height - Quadruple benches, 20 m high total
- Interramp slope - 55.3º
- Batter angle - 70º
- Berm width - 6.5 m
- Haulage ramp width - 16 m
- Haulage ramp slope - 10%
- Minimum pushback width - 40 m.

The run-of-mine ore will be fed through the open circuit crushing circuit which has a final product size P80 of ½ inch. The final crushing product is fed to two agglomerators at a total feed rate of 580 t/h.

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