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Australia
Fountain Head and Hayes Creek Project

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 Location:
54 km NW from Pine Creek, Northern Territory, Australia

  Project Contacts:
Level 1, 135 Fullarton Road
Rose Park
South Australia, Australia
5067
Phone  ...  Subscription required
Fax+61-(0)-8-8364-4288
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Overview

StagePermitting
Mine TypeOpen Pit & Underground
Commodities
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Zinc
  • Copper
  • Lead
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Processing
  • Centrifugal concentrator
  • Intensive Cyanidation Reactor (ICR)
  • Filter press plant
  • Carbon re-activation kiln
  • Smelting
  • Gravity separation
  • Dry Screening
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Carbon in leach (CIL)
  • Elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)
Mine Life10 years (as of Jan 1, 2021)
June 17, 2021, PNX Metals Limited (ASX: PNX) is pleased to announce the results of a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) that supports the sequential development of its 100% owned Fountain Head gold and Hayes Creek gold- silver-zinc Projects (Project), both of which are located approximately 170km south of Darwin in the Pine Creek region of the Northern Territory.

The Project Environmental Impact Assessment is now open for public consultation, with approvals targeted for late 2021.
Latest NewsCerro Grande Mining Corporation Announces Finalization of Agreement to acquire the Assets relating to the Pimentón Copper Gold Mining Project     September 14, 2020


Owners

Source: p. 15
CompanyInterestOwnership
PNX Metals Ltd. 100 % Indirect
The Project is located within the boundaries of the Ban Ban Springs and Douglas pastoral stations approximately 13km east of the Stuart Highway and 170km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory and comprises 19 Mineral Leases (MLs) covering an area of 1246.6 hectares providing continuous coverage of, and unrestricted access over, the Fountain Head, Glencoe, Mt Bonnie and Iron Blow deposits. All Project areas are 100% owned by PNX Metals Ltd.

Deposit Type

  • VMS
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork
  • Vein / narrow vein


Summary:

Mineral Resource inventory of approximately 470,000 ounces of gold, 16.2 million ounces of silver and 177,000 tonnes of zinc from ore located at Fountain Head, Glencoe and the Hayes Creek VMS deposits (Mt Bonnie and Iron Blow).

Fountain Head
Mineralisation occurs in veins as either conformable anticlinal lodes (with flanking mineralisation) or subvertical structurally hosted (“ladder vein style”) mineralisation associated with faults and shears sub-parallel to the fold axis, and is found within interbedded mudstones, greywackes and phyllite units. Sheeted quartz vein stock-works occur mainly in the axial zone (hinge zone) with veins predominantly dipping northeast, and some saddle reefs occur in the axial zone. Increased grades encountered at Fountain Head are thought to result from secondary deformation of the Fountain Head anticline. Gold is associated with quartz veining containing a pyrite-arsenopyrite sulphide assemblage and coarse gold is not uncommon.

The following key structural settings appear to control gold mineralisation at Fountain Head:

- The structurally controlled system of mineralised quartz veins appears largely restricted to the southwestern limb and hinge zone of the Fountain Head Anticline. Mineralisation is preferentially hosted in greywacke and sandstone units;
- Subvertical faults or shears subparallel to fold axial planes;
- Vein infill in dilatant zones in the apex of small-scale anticlinal folds associated with the Fountain Head Anticline;
- Conformable veins dipping away on the limbs of the fold, and conformable saddle reefs within the hinge zone of the fold.

Glencoe
Gold mineralisation at Glencoe is hosted by greywacke, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone of the Paleoproterozoic Mount Bonnie Formation, and is contained within complex quartz veins and shears spatially associated with the axial regions of shallow plunging anticlines. The majority of the gold-bearing quartz veins occur within sub-vertical to steeply dipping fracture and shear zones. Other gold-bearing quartz veins are interpreted to have conformable or ‘saddle reef’ geometries, and occur as stratabound bodies extending outwards from the discordant fracture-filled zones.

Late-stage chlorite alteration, shearing and brecciation overprint the gold-bearing veins, including country rock breccias with a chlorite matrix. There is a strong association of gold with sulphides, predominantly pyrite and arsenopyrite, and a close association between chlorite alteration and sulphide/gold/quartz vein development. Mineralisation has typically favoured the more ductile carbonaceous mudstone horizons. There appears to have been some gold redistribution by near-surface supergene processes.

Mt Bonnie
A tabular north-west dipping zone of high-grade massive sulphides surrounded by a larger halo of lower grade brecciated and carbonate altered rocks has been defined, with a flat-lying silver-rich supergene zone identified near-surface to the north of the historical open-pit. These three mineralised zones have been modelled and reported separately as zinc, gold and silver domains.

Excellent geological continuity and consistency of mineralisation is evident in the resource modelling, resulting in greater than 90% of the MRE being classified in the higher confidence Indicated category. The majority of the MRE is comprised of sulphide ore and occurs from approximately 25m to 170m below surface directly beneath the historical oxide pit.

Previous drilling by PNX intersected new mineralisation to the south of the historic pit and shows that mineralisation continues further south than previously anticipated and beyond the limit of current drilling. Potential also exists for a high-grade shoot(s) to extend underneath the current extent of drilling and the pit shell design.

The highest base metal and gold grades in the deposit are contained within the massive sulphide unit, which is up to 15m thick below the pit and appears to narrow with depth. The brecciated, carbonate altered unit below the massive sulphides contains lower grade disseminated mineralisation, often with a coarse blebby appearance.

In the oxide zone (Stage 1 CIL), the lead and gold are enriched and the zinc depleted. Within the primary massive sulphide mineralisation (Stage 2 flotation) no notable metal zonation has been observed, and metal grades appear to be remarkably uniform. Towards the south of the deposit, the massive sulphides appear to break into two separate units, likely to be fold or fault repetition, and remain open to the south and at depth. Gold mineralisation also occurs in a separate association outside of the massive sulphide zones, mostly in the Footwall Series.

Iron Blow
Drilling delineated two main massive sulphide lodes; an eastern hanging-wall lode defined by its significant zincgold-silver-lead mineralisation, and underneath, a broader predominantly zinc-gold rich western footwall lode. Four additional subsidiary lodes were also geologically modelled and reported separately; two gold rich zones located in the hanging-wall to the East Lode and footwall to the West Lode, and two gold and base metal zones delineated between the East and West Lodes (the “interlode” domain).

The majority of the MRE is comprised of sulphide ore and occurs within 270 metres of surface directly beneath and to the south of the historical oxide pit. The highest base metal and gold grades in the deposit are contained within the two massive sulphide lodes, which have been defined continuously over a strike length of about 250 metres, with true widths between 1 and 30 metres and plunging moderately to the south.


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

Each of the MREs at Fountain Head, Mt Bonnie and Glencoe were processed via Pseudoflow optimisation to identify the economic pit shells. Final pit shell selection utilised for guiding the pit design process was also based on evaluating upside potential for further resource expansion through exploration drilling and conducting sensitivities on gold price.

Sequential management of mining, water and tailings management for stage 1 has been modelled and is proposed to occur in the following order:
1. Rehandle, transport and processing of Mt Bonnie stockpile;
2. Open-pit mining and processing of Mt Bonnie oxide and transitional ore;
3. Open-pit mining and processing of Glencoe gold ore;
4. Mt Bonnie and Glencoe tailings to be co-disposed within the Fountain Head waste stockpile;
5. Open-pit mining and processing of Fountain Head gold ore;
6. Fountain Head tailings to be co-disposed within the Fountain Head waste stockpile and other available void space e.g., Glencoe.

Fountain Head
The existing open-pit will be cutback and extended in a northwest direction, deepening the existing pit by approximately 90m. Mining will occur by way of conventional drill and blast mining techniques using standard mining equipment including 125-200t excavators and 90-100t off-highway haul trucks.

The mining sequence at each site will consist of:

• Clearing, levelling and stockpiling of any topsoil and sub-soils for later use in site rehabilitation;
• Blast hole drilling using track mounted top hammer drills with bit sizes ranging from 89mm to 127mm. The depth of the blast holes will vary between 2 to 10m with drill and blast to occur on a 5m vertical bench;
• Grade control samples from the blast holes will be assayed off-site at Northern Australian Laboratories (NAL) in Pine Creek;
• The drill holes are then charged with bulk explosives using Ammonium Nitrate & Fuel Oil (ANFO) in dry holes and bulk water-resistant emulsions will be used in wet holes, both of these products will be mixed in the pit using a sub-contracted dedicated explosive Mobile Manufacturing Unit (MMU);
• The blasted rock will then have survey lines marked on the ground to identify ore and waste based on the grade control results. The waste rock will be excavated and hauled to the expanded waste rock stockpile, and the ore will be hauled to the dedicated Plant ROM pad for stockpiling and subsequent processing.

Mt Bonnie
An historical ore stockpile located to the south of the existing open pit will be the first material processed through the Plant. This material will be a reclaim operation.

The ore will be hauled to Fountain Head ROM via an existing site access track, and the Grove Hill and Mt Wells public roads. For the safety of public road users, it is proposed that standard road haulage trucks will be utilised. It is expected that the access track will require some rock sheeting and shaping to allow for efficient transport, and that no culverts will be required.

Mining of in-situ oxide and transitional ores will require pre-development work to gain access to the top of Mt Bonnie. Conventional drill and blast and mining will take place on a bench-by-bench basis until the oxide/transitional material has been depleted. The ore will be transported along the same access tracks used for the stockpile. Mining of the sulphide zone will occur in the same manner when the Plant has been upgraded.

Ore is expected to be mined during Stage 2 of the Project from a combination of open-pit and underground sources at Mt Bonnie and Iron Blow.


Crushing and Grinding
Flow Sheet: Source
Crusher / Mill TypeModelSizePowerQuantity
Jaw crusher 1
Cone crusher 2
Ball mill 1

Summary:

Ore (top size nominal -600mm) will be fed by a front-end loader into the ROM bin and then via a variable speed feeder into a three-stage crushing circuit (a jaw crusher and two cone crushers).

The crushed product, at a nominal 12mm size fraction, will then be fed into the single-stage ball milling circuit along with lime to control the pH. A reclaim stockpile containing excess ore will be generated to provide mill feed when the crusher is offline. Cyclones are used to classify the milled ore with a fraction of the cyclone underflow passing through a gravity concentrator to recover any coarse gold.


Processing

  • Centrifugal concentrator
  • Intensive Cyanidation Reactor (ICR)
  • Filter press plant
  • Carbon re-activation kiln
  • Smelting
  • Gravity separation
  • Dry Screening
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Carbon in leach (CIL)
  • Elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)

Flow Sheet: Subscription required

Summary:

The PFS confirms the technical and economic viability of a staged development approach, to construct a low capital and operating cost carbon-in-leach gold plant (Plant) and infrastructure capable of treating 750ktpa with a capacity potential of 900ktpa. Near-surface oxide and free-milling gold & silver ore from three open-pit mines at Fountain Head, Mt Bonnie and Glencoe and will be processed over an initial 5 year period (Stage 1).

Subsequent to the treatment of the currently defined oxide gold and silver resources in Stage 1, the Plant will be upgraded to incorporate a sulphide flotation circuit capable of processing the Hayes Creek high-grade gold-silverzinc massive sulphide ores into two valuable product streams, a zinc concentrate and a precious metals concentrate (Stage 2). The concentrates will be trucked to the Port of Darwin and then shipped to international markets for sale and smelting and refining.

Process Flow
The cyclone overflow discharges acr ........

Recoveries & Grades:

CommodityParameterAvg. LOM
Gold Head Grade, g/t 1.46
Silver Head Grade, g/t 132.2
Zinc Head Grade, % 4.45

Projected Production:

CommodityProductUnitsLOM
Gold Payable metal oz 230,316
Gold Metal in doré oz 250,522
Silver Payable metal oz  ......  Subscription required
Silver Metal in doré oz  ......  Subscription required
Zinc Payable metal M lbs  ......  Subscription required
Zinc Metal in concentrate M lbs  ......  Subscription required
Zinc Concentrate kt  ......  Subscription required

Operational Metrics:

Metrics
Stripping / waste ratio  ......  Subscription required
Waste tonnes, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Total tonnes mined, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Annual processing capacity  ......  Subscription required
* According to 2021 study.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Reserves at April 26, 2021:
Fountain Head and Tally Ho Mineral Resources reported utilising a cutoff grade of >0.7g/t Au.
Glencoe Mineral Resources estimated using a cut-off grade of 0.7g/t Au.
Mt Bonnie Mineral Resources 7 reported utilising various cut-off grades: Zinc domains are reported above a cut-of grade of 1% Zn, gold domains are reported above a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t Au and silver domains are reported above a cut-off grade of 50g/t Ag.
Iron Blow Mineral Resources reported utilising a cutoff grade of 1 g/t gold equivalent.

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Indicated 5.285 Mt Gold 1.84 g/t
Indicated 3.455 Mt Silver 137 g/t
Indicated 3.455 Mt Zinc 4.88 %
Indicated 3.455 Mt Copper 0.27 %
Indicated 3.455 Mt Lead 1.01 %
Inferred 3.931 Mt Gold 1.34 g/t
Inferred 0.622 Mt Silver 52 g/t
Inferred 0.622 Mt Zinc 1.39 %
Inferred 0.622 Mt Copper 0.1 %
Inferred 0.622 Mt Lead 0.37 %
Total Resource 9.216 Mt Gold 1.6 g/t 475,146 oz
Total Resource 4.176 Mt Silver 122 g/t 16,433,076 oz
Total Resource 4.176 Mt Zinc 4.35 % 177,431 t
Total Resource 4.176 Mt Copper 0.25 % 10,035 t
Total Resource 4.176 Mt Lead 0.91 % 37,225 t

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnitsAverage
All-in sustaining costs (sold) Gold Equivalent AUD  ......  Subscription required *†
Assumed price Zinc USD  ......  Subscription required *
Assumed price Silver USD  ......  Subscription required *
Assumed price Gold USD  ......  Subscription required *
* According to 2021 study / presentation.
† Net of By-Product.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operating Costs:

Units2021
Processing costs ($/t milled) AUD 24.3 *
* According to 2021 study. Base case Stage 1 operating costs for the Plant

2021 Study Costs and Valuation Metrics :

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Working capital $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Sustaining CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Total CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Total OpEx $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Total Taxes $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Royalty payments $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Gross revenue (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Net revenue (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
EBITDA (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax NPV @ 10% $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax NPV @ 10% $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M AUD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscription required
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Proposed Heavy Mobile Equipment as of June 17, 2021:
HME TypeSizeQuantity
Crane 25 t ....................... Subscription required
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required
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....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required
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....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Mine Management:

Job TitleNamePhoneProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 17, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 17, 2021
Subscription required - Subscription is required.


Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
Press Release 2022
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

News:

NewsDate
Cerro Grande Mining Corporation Announces Finalization of Agreement to acquire the Assets relating to the Pimentón Copper Gold Mining Project September 14, 2020

Subscription required - Subscription is required.

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