The West Musgrave Project consists of the Nebo and Babe pits. The deposits are near-surface and easily accessible by open pit mining with a pre-strip and initial ore stockpile for processing plant commissioning of approximately 32 Mt, some of which will be free dig.
Mining is modelled as conventional drill, blast, load and haul and assumed to be contractor operated during the first five years of operation, transitioning to owner operate in year six. The haulage fleet will comprise up to 25, 220 t haul trucks and optionality is being maintained to allow for these trucks to be fully autonomous in the future.
Mining equipment would include excavators, haul trucks, drill rigs, dozers, water trucks, service trucks and graders. Ore from the pits would be transferred by truck to the run-ofmine (ROM) stockpile pad located adjacent to the ore processing plant. An explosives magazine, conforming to relevant Australian Standards, would store explosives for open pit blasting activities.
Babel will be mined for the first two years to access higher grade, near-surface mineralisation, with Nebo to begin mining in year three.
Open Pit Characteristics for the Nebo Pit:
Width (m) - Up to 500;
Length (m)- Up to 2,100;
Depth (m) - Up to 270.
Open Pit Characteristics for the Babel Pit:
Width (m) - Up to 1,400;
Length (m) - Up to 2,200;
Depth (m) - Up to 520.
Stockpile strategies and in-pit dumping of ........
