The area to the south of the deposit is dominated by a sequence of meta-gabbro-diorite interspersed with foliated pegmatites of granitic composition while the northern area is covered by a sequence of gneisses of granitic composition. The contact between the two rock units is represented by a shear zone which generally controls the distribution of the mineralisation with the Pedra Branca deposit comprising two zones of mineralisation, namely the “West” and the “East”.

The copper mineralisation is strong and pervasive, with various types of mineralisation (semi massive to disseminated) being distinguished in the drill core.

Pedra Branca East (PBE) is an Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) type deposit located within the Carajás Basement, and is hosted predominantly by diorite and sheared granite. Country rocks are mostly biotitegneisses (ortho-gneisses), while pegmatite dykes are abundant in proximity to the ore zones.

This deposit occurs along an E-W striking regional shear zone, which is represented by metres wide mylonitic zones marked by intense silicification. This shear zone is regionally crosscut by north-south, northeast and northwest striking faults.

PBE consists of a single continuous orebody, which strikes east-west and has a >600m strike extension. It is a sub-vertical to steeply dipping (south) plunging shoot, with a thicker higher grade central core which follows the plunge. The orebody begins to shallow out in dip at depth ........

2021: OZ Minerals achieved a significant milestone with the start of mining ore from stopes at Pedra Branca, the first of the satellite mines to be realised under the Hub Strategy. Pedra Branca’s successful transition from a concept study to being permitted, built and into successful commissioning and production.

Status 2021: Construction complete, delivering processing production ore to Antas.

Mine rate: Ore production of 1.0 Mtpa.

The box cut, portal and initial few metres of decline was completed in 2016 and much of the infrastructure to resume its initial excavation is in place.

Sublevel stoping was selected as the mining method and has been deemed suitable for the orebody, based on orebody geometry and rock mass qualities.

Detailed infrastructure design was completed upon the mine design to address the required mine ventilation, mine dewatering, power supply, controls, and communication requirements.

Sublevel stoping with rock backfill will be applied in a bottom up bench stoping configuration. Stopes will be mined via long hole open stoping.

The pre-concentration and development waste will be utilised as backfill.

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