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Mt Chalmers Project

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
Study CompletedPrefeasibility
Study in ProgressPrefeasibility Update
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Gold
  • Zinc
  • Silver
  • Pyrite
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Mount Chalmers project includes the high-grade historic Mt Chalmers copper and gold mine. Mt Chalmers operated as an open-pit and underground operation between 1898-1982.

Mt Chalmers is assessing mining through a three-stage open-pit operation, with ore processed onsite. The process plant is designed to produce three concentrate types: copper/gold, zinc/silver, and pyrite/gold, based on two ore types: Massive Sulphide Ore and Stringer Ore.

In 2025, the flowsheet was revised to target an expanded throughput of 2.0 Mtpa, representing a significant scale-up from the original PFS. Metallurgical testwork achieved higher copper and zinc recoveries, producing saleable, high-grade concentrates. The updated PFS remains on schedule.

Activities continued to underpin progress toward establishing a multi-deposit copper and gold operation centred on the Mt Chalmers Processing Hub, supporting a regional strategy to treat blended ore from Mt Chalmers, Develin Creek, and Mount Mackenzie.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
QMines Ltd. 100 % Indirect
QMines Limited owns 100% of the Mt Chalmers copper-gold deposits.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • VMS

Summary:

Local Geology
The informal stratigraphic subdivisions in the mine area are after Large and Both (1980) and were adopted by Taube (1990). The oldest rocks in the area, the 'footwall sequence' of pyritic tuffs, are seen only in the Mt Chalmers open pit and in drill holes away from the mine. The rock is usually a light coloured eutaxitic tuff with coarse fragments, mainly of chert, porphyritic volcanics, and chloritic volcaniclastics. The associated alteration comprising silicification, sericitisation, and pyritisation of this basal unit becomes more intense close to mineralization.

The 'mineralised sequence' overlying the 'footwall sequence' predominantly comprises tuffs, siltstones, and shales and contains stratabound massive sulphide mineralisation and associated exhalites: thin barite beds, chert and occasionally jasper, hematitic shale, and thin layers of bedded disseminated sulphides. Dolomite has been recorded in the mineralised sequence close to massive sulphides. This sequence represents a hiatus in volcanic activity and a period of water-lain sediment and chemical deposition.

Low-grade mineralisation extends several hundred metres beyond the pit in places (Taube 1990).

The rocks in the mine area are gently dipping, about 20° to the north-northeast, in the Main Lode mine area and similarly dipping south for the West Lode. Note that the predominant structure is a broad anticline trending north-north-west. Slaty cleavage is strongly developed in some of the rocks, notably in sediments and along fold axes. Such cleavage is prominent in areas close to the faults but is weak elsewhere.

Detailed work in the open pit has interpreted the doming of the rocks to be close to the mineralisation has seen to be largely due to localised horst block faulting (Taube 1990), but the doming might also be a primary feature in part. Steep dips are localised and usually the result of block faulting. Where the Main and West Lode crop out, they are defined as variably silicified rocks which, by one interpretation, may have been pushed up through overlying rocks in the manner of a Mont Pelée spine (Taube 1990), but in any case, form a dome of rhyolite / high-level intrusions of the Ellrott Rhyolite. The surrounding mineralised horizon is draped upon the flanks of domal structures.

Deposit Type
The Mt Chalmers project is identified as a Volcanic Hosted Massive Sulphide (VHMS) deposit. Mt Chalmers is considered to be a close analogue to the Kuroko VHMS deposits in Japan.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityUnitsLOM
Copper kt 63 *
Gold koz 130 *
Zinc kt 28 *
Silver koz 1,612 *
Pyrite kt 583 *
All production numbers are expressed as metal in concentrate. * According to 2024 study.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Hourly processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes processed, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2024 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Total cash costs Copper Equivalent USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Pyrite USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Zinc USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Copper USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Silver USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Gold USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2024 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

CurrencyAverage
Total operating costs ($/t milled) AUD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2024 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
OP OpEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Refining and treatment costs $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Transportation (haulage) costs $M AUD 12.6
G&A costs $M AUD 40
Royalty payments $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 25, 2026
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 25, 2026

Workforce

Aerial view:

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