Mineralisation at the Caravel Copper Project is hosted by a highly deformed Archaean granite and considered to originate as a large porphyry copper system.

The granite host rock, the inferred premetamorphic mineral assemblages and general scale and style are all consistent with the porphyry copper model. The broader geological setting is also consistent with a porphyry style of mineralisation, with the 30km mineralised trend following the margins of granite batholith of similar scale, referred to as the Wongan Batholith.

Outhwaite (2017) describes in detail age dating work and the tectonic history of the project area. Host granites and associated mineralisation have been dated at around 3.0 Ga, with subsequent deformation and metamorphism around 2.7 Ga, coincident with the regional deformation and gold mineralisation at Kalgoorlie and the wider Yilgarn goldfields, as well as the Boddington gold deposit.

Copper occurs almost exclusively as chalcopyrite sulphides associated with quartz veins. Copper grade is largely determined by the frequency and thickness of the veins, which may be semi-massive chalcopyrite up to several cm thick, though mostly the sulphide veins are more attenuated and in the range of mm thick following the main foliation. The frequency of veins or sulphide bands also varies on the scale of meters and tens of meters, where copper grades may range up to 0.6% over thicknesses of tens of meters with lower grades or waste in bet ........

Mining parameters
To determine the most appropriate bench height, block size and loading equipment, a trade-off study was completed by Orelogy. Results showed the best combination to be 500t excavators loading 180t capacity trucks on 5 metre flitch heights, and blasting on a 10 metre bench height. With a selective mining unit of 12.5 x 12.5 x 5m, the overall ore loss and dilution are estimated to be 4.4% and 4.7% respectively. Grade control of ore will be by RC drilling at 15 metre centres on 30m benches.

Pit optimisations were carried out to identify and quantify potential mining inventories within optimal pit shells. The open pit optimisation was undertaken utilising Dassault Systèmes Australia (Geovia) WhittleTM software, which generates a series of nested pit shells using “Revenue Factors” based on a set of financial and other parameters such as costs and metal prices. The pit shells giving the highest undiscounted cashflow values for a given set of optimisation parameters were selected for scheduling. The aim of the mine production scheduling was to generate a practical, realistically achievable schedule which maximises value within the applied constraints that:
• Meets mill feed requirements;
• Includes ramp-up considerations for mine operations as well as the processing plant;
• Avoids excessive and unachievable vertical advance rates.

A life-of-mine annual production schedule was completed based on a throughput of 12Mtpa of or ........

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Caravel has modified the process flowsheet from the 2019 Scoping Study as part of trade-off studies (to a scoping level) for Phase 1 of the PFS, with the circuit modified to incorporate a Semi Autogenous Grinding (SAG) Mill with pebble crusher comminution circuit in preference to the High Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) envisaged previously. This change aims to provide a faster return on capital, higher throughput and the opportunity for pebble rejection. The study also produced a site layout suitable for start-up operations and future expansion, with an equipment flowsheet for treating the ore at 12Mtpa which will then be effectively replicated when the plant is expanded to 24Mtpa from year 6 onwards.

Flotation
Cyclone overflow from the ball mill will report to a copper flotation circuit consisting of roughing, regrind and three stages of cleaning with scavenging. Tailings from the flotation circuit will be pumped to the tailings thickener.

Concentrate handlin ........