In this study, the proposed mining method is the well-known open pit truck and shovel operation with 10-meter bench intervals. Haul trucks with a capacity of 194 tonnes will be used for hauling mineralized material to the mineral process plant and Stockpile facilities and to the waste rock facility (WRF).
Mining operations will use large-scale mining equipment including 7-7/8-inch (20 cm) diameter blast hole drills, 29 m3 hydraulic shovel, 22 m3 front-end loader, and 194 tonne capacity haul trucks.
The mine is divided into two zones, the high-grade North Zone which is the initial focus of mine development and the lowgrade South Zone which requires pre-stripping ahead of mine development. The North Zone is approximately 1850 m long (N-S) and 1000 m wide (E-W) with a pit depth of 680 m and the South Zone is 2050 m long and 1080 m wide with a pit depth of 780 m.
The mining sequence consists of four phases, where the first and second phases define the North Pit, and the successive two phases define the South Pit.
The Project has a mine life of 23 years, which includes two years of pre-stripping. The mine production plan contains 847.7 million tonnes of mineralized material with an average grade of 0.36 CuEq to be hauled to the mineral process plant and 983.6 million tonnes of waste, resulting in a strip ratio of 1.16 over the life of the mine.
Mining operations will be carried out by the owner on a 24-hour per day, 365 days p ........