Overview
| Stage | Production |
| Mine Type | Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Block caving
- Sub-level caving
|
| Production Start | ...  |
| Mine Life | 2055 |
Carrapateena produces copper concentrate and is one of the largest mining projects in South Australia in the last decade.
The Carrapateena cave safely propagated to surface at the end of CY2022 (prior to the acquisition of OZ Minerals by BHP), which was an important de risking event for the mine.
Progress was also made on converting the bottom half of the Carrapateena mine from a sub-level cave to a block cave, with the aim of unlocking the mine’s potential to be a multigenerational, low quartile cash cost producing province. Significant progress was made during the 2022 year on enabling underground infrastructure, such as crushers and ventilation. The tailings storage facility main embankment Stage 2 lift was completed and a new regrind mill was commissioned. |
Source:
p. 29,188,213
The Carrapateena Project is owned 100% by OZ Minerals Limited through its wholly-owned subsidiaries.
On May 2, 2023, BHP announced the completion of the OZ Minerals acquisition and implementation of the scheme of arrangement for BHP Lonsdale Investments Pty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP Group Limited, to acquire 100% of the shares in OZ Minerals Limited (OZL) (the Scheme). BHP Group Limited is now the ultimate parent company of OZL.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
- IOCG
Summary:
The Carrapateena Breccia Complex is located within the Olympic copper gold (Cu-Au) Province on the eastern edge of the Gawler Craton. It is hosted within Donington Suite granite and is unconformably overlain by approximately 480 m of Neoproterozoic sediments. Mineralisation and alteration are in the form of that seen at other large South Australian iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) deposits including Prominent Hill and Olympic Dam.
The Carrapateena copper-gold mineral deposit is hosted in a brecciated granite complex, with both bornite and chalcopyrite copper mineralisation present – the bornite being a distinct higher grade zone of mineralisation.
At deposit scale, the hematite breccia zone appears to be quite continuous, but its limits at depth are not yet well-defined. A subset of the hematite breccia zone contains significant copper mineralisation. Bornite-dominant and chalcopyrite-dominant zones appear as distinct clusters on scatter plots of copper and sulphur grades.
The mostly low-grade mineralisation in the north, east and at depth, is less continuous and has consequently been classified mainly as Inferred. Both the hematite breccia zone and the copper-mineralised zones are open at depth. The geological model is a near-vertical body of hematite dominated breccia hosted within altered granite.
The vast majority of copper and gold mineralisation within the deposit is hosted by hematite-dominated breccias with moderate mineralis ........
Mining Methods
- Block caving
- Sub-level caving
Summary:
It was concluded that both the Block Cave (BC) and Sub Level Cave (SLC) are appropriate methods to mine the Carrapateena Ore Reserve.
Two mining blocks were identified to be mined one after the other, being BC1 then BC2. This approach maximises NPV and the Present Value Ratio (Net Present Value divided by Discounted Capital Cost) of the deposit. In addition to the existing mill already constructed for the SLC mining method, an additional mill will need to be constructed to increase the processing throughput rate to 12 Mtpa.
Production commenced from the eighth Sub Level Cave level during the quarter. Crusher station 2 excavation progressed and pilot drilling was completed for two of the ore passes which will feed the crusher. Fit out of the three transfer chambers to support crusher 2 continued to progress.
The mine utilises an extensive fleet of modern, large scale underground mining equipment with 21t capacity loaders & 63t trucks, hauling to an underground crusher.
Having successfully broken through to the surface the sub-level cave at Carrapateena has begun to optimise for production, now that the safe development of the cave has been established. The lower sub level cave is planned to transition to a block cave.
BC is a mining method that involves the establishment of a stable extraction level using ground support such as rock bolts and cable bolts. An undercut level is mined above the extraction level, and the unde ........
Source:
p.55, 66, 73
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Production:
| Commodity | Product | Units | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | Avg. Annual (Projected) |
|
Copper
|
Metal in concentrate
|
t
| ...... ^ | ...... | ...... | ...... | 65,000 |
|
Gold
|
Metal in concentrate
|
oz
| ...... ^ | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
|
Copper
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | |
|
Silver
|
Metal in concentrate
|
oz
| | ...... | ...... | ...... | |
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|
Ore tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... | ...... | 2,691,000 t | 300,640 t |
|
Annual processing capacity
| ...... | ...... | ...... | 4.25 Mt | |
|
Tonnes milled
| ...... | ...... | ...... | 2,931,268 t | |
|
Waste
| ...... | ...... | ...... | 1,574,528 t | 1,352,765 t |
|
Total tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... | ...... | 4,265,528 t | 1,653,405 t |
^ Guidance / Forecast.
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Reserves at June 30, 2023:
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
|
Probable
|
189 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.04 %
|
|
Probable
|
189 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.41 g/t
|
|
Probable
|
189 Mt
|
Silver
|
4 g/t
|
|
Measured
|
130 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.01 %
|
|
Measured
|
130 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.42 g/t
|
|
Measured
|
130 Mt
|
Silver
|
4 g/t
|
|
Indicated
|
470 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.62 g/t
|
|
Indicated
|
470 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.26 g/t
|
|
Indicated
|
470 Mt
|
Silver
|
3 g/t
|
|
Inferred
|
300 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.26 %
|
|
Inferred
|
300 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.13 g/t
|
|
Inferred
|
300 Mt
|
Silver
|
2 g/t
|
|
Total Resource
|
900 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.56 %
|
|
Total Resource
|
900 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.24 g/t
|
|
Total Resource
|
900 Mt
|
Silver
|
3 g/t
|
Source:
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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