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Turkiye

Pinargozu Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Zinc
  • Lead
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Cut & Fill
  • Shrinkage stoping
Backfill type ... Lock
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SnapshotProduction is DSO (Direct Shipping Ore) grade materia at the Pinargozu mine.

The 541-metre level adit (the Fourth Adit) was the main production hub for the Pinargozu Mine in 2023. Horzum AS will continue to extend the existing Fourth Adit an additional 300 metres to reach the Akkaya property that located 1.5 kilometre north of Pinargzou Mine.

In the second quarter of 2024, Horzum AS initiated two separate legal actions with the objective of settling the receivable owed by Akmetal to Horzum AS. In addition, a legal action is on-going by Horzum AS for the recovery of the debt owed by Akmetal.

In the on-going court case in Adana to recover the debt owed by Akmetal, Pasinex AS was allowed by the court to join the current lawsuit by Horzum AS against Akmetal. The objective of the legal action by Pasinex and Horzum AS is also to restructure or eliminate the Joint Venture with Pasinex assuming control of the management of the Joint Venture.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Pasinex Resources Ltd. 50 % Indirect
Akmetal Madencilik AS 50 % Indirect
Horzum Arama Isletme AS (operator) 100 % Direct
Pasinex holds a 50% interest in the Pinargozu Operation Licence through Horzum Arama Isletme AS (Horzum AS), a 50/50 joint venture (JV) company between Pasinex Arama Madencilik AS (Pasinex AS), a wholly owned Turkish subsidiary of Pasinex, and Akmetal AS, the Turkish mining company that owns the nearby past producing Horzum zinc mine.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Mississippi Valley Type
  • Stratabound
  • Carbonate replacement

Summary:

Pinargozu and Horzum’s passive margin setting with inversion and collisional orogeny is favourable for the formation of Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) and Irish-type zinc deposits. The post-collisional Neogene magmatism on the Anatolian plateau is permissive of skarn/manto (or CRD) type deposits; CRD deposits typically form distal from porphyritic intrusions in magmatic arc or back-arc settings.

Pinargozu and Horzum occur within the Tufanbeyli–Horzum Zinc Belt, where mineralisation has generally been interpreted as MVT deposits, formed within the passive- margin platform carbonate sequences with fluid-flow systems related to the Cimmerian or Alpine orogenic compression and uplift. However, the deposits in the Nigde, Zamanti, Keban district have been described as intrusive-related.

Mining at Pinargozu has mainly been of secondary zinc mineralisation, formed through supergene oxidation of massive sulphide mineralisation. Primary massive sulphide mineralisation is becoming more dominant as the mine becomes deeper.

Sulphide Mineralisation
The primary mineralisation is characterised by coarse massive sphalerite-rich sulphide with subordinate pyrite. Massive galena also occurs and typically post-dates sphalerite, cutting and replacing sphalerite and associated with more abundant carbonate gangue. The carbonate weathers brown and is interpreted to be iron-rich and potentially manganoan. The absence of a black weathering patina suggests that manganese is subsidiary.

Contacts of massive sulphide with bleached limestone are sharp, with minor disseminated and clotty sulphide in the limestone. Based on mining, the mineralisation is crudely stratabound within the central part of the Degirmentas Formation. Observations underground suggest that massive sulphide contacts are mainly stratabound.

Secondary Zinc Mineralisation
During weathering of massive sulphide deposits in limestone, sulphide oxidation generates acid which readily transports Zn, and to a lesser extent Pb, until neutralised by carbonate wall rocks. Secondary zinc mineralisation can be direct replacement, where neutralisation is almost immediate and secondary minerals directly replace primary, or wall-rock replacement where zinc is transported out of the primary deposit and are precipitated by reaction with the wall rock, often in acid-enhanced karst cavity systems (Hitzman et al., 2003). Acid generation capacity is strongly related to pyrite content, which is low at Pinargozu.

Secondary zinc mineralisation at Pinargozu consists mainly of smithsonite, ZnCO3, and hemimorphite, Zn4Si2O7(OH)2·H2O, with minor amount of replacive hydrozincite, Zn5(CO3)2(OH)6. Secondary zinc mineralisation is associated with abundant concentrations of Fe-oxides and hydroxides and cerussite, PbCO3, as well as remnant galena, sphalerite, and pyrite. Very high-grade zinc mineralisation (>40% Zn) is associated with banded smithsonite.

Mineralisation is accompanied by a general tenor of >50 g/t silver. Local pockets of high grade silver (>250 g/t) exist, most notably in the southern lodes where sulphide proportions are higher. Elevated lead concentrations (typically galena) are almost entirely restricted to these southern lodes where, as development has extended deeper, sulphide mineralisation has become more prevalent.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Zinc Metal in ore M lbs  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe14 31 39 18 
Zinc Ore wmt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe17,812 45,757 57,675 26,462 15,029 
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics2019
Daily mining rate 170 t
Annual mining rate 60,000 t

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2023202220212020201920182017
Cash costs Zinc USD  ....  Subscribe
Cash costs Zinc USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 0.42 / lb **   0.25 / lb **   0.19 / lb **  
** Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs

Currency20232022202120202019201820172016
UG mining costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Financials

Units2023202220212020201920182017
Revenue M CAD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 14.6   2.6   31.8  
Operating Income M CAD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 4.6   14.8  
Pre-tax Income M CAD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
After-tax Income M CAD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -5.6   -10.1   16.3  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 29, 2019
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 17, 2024

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2023
...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required 2021
...... Subscription required 2020
...... Subscription required 2016

Aerial view:

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