Underground mining will utilize the block cave mining method, a low-cost, bulk mining method. After a ramp-up period of approximately two years, the initial cave will achieve a production rate of 12Mtpa. The mining operations will be expanded by an additional 12Mtpa, increasing to a total annual production rate of 24Mtpa in year 6 of mine production.
Access will be via twin declines from surface to the extraction level of the block caves. Decline development is estimated to take approximately four years to reach the block cave extraction level at 270 mRL.
Four separate block cave footprints will be developed. Block Cave 1 (footprint area of 67,453 m2 ) is estimated to start producing ore in Year 4 of project development, followed by Block Cave 2 (73,980 m2) in Year 8, Block Cave 3 (93.038 m2) in Year 15 and Block Cave 4 (103,482 m2) in Year 18. Primary crushing will occur underground via single-stage jaw crushers; one for each block cave footprint except for Block Cave 4, which will have two.
Total mine life is expected to be 28 years, during which time a total of 539.7 Mt of ore will be extracted, with an average copper grade of 0.60% Cu and an average gold grade of 0.54 g/t Au.
Block Caving (BC) is the mining method in which, panels, or blocks of ore are undercut to induce caving, permitting the broken ore to flow to the draw point via gravity to be gathered and then taken away for processing. The result of the caving process is a ........