Overview
Status | Care and Maintenance |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
|
Mine Life | 13.7 years (as of Jan 1, 2013) |
The operations of Mt Lyell copper mine were suspended in January 2014 following a mud slide incident and were put into care and maintenance since 09 July 2014 following a rock fall incident in June 2014. |
Source:
p. 169
The Mt. Lyell mine is owned and operated by Copper Mines of Tasmania Pty Limited (CMT). Vedanta Limited owns 100.0% of CMT.
Summary:
The principal deposits in the Mt. Lyell region are all of the volcanic disseminated pyrite- chalcopyrite type which accounts for approximately 86.0% of the known ore in the region. The geology of the Mt. Lyell mine consists of a series of intercalated felsic to mafic-intermediate volcanics. Lithologies are highly altered quartzsericite-chlorite volcanics with individual units delineated largely by the relative abundance of phyllosilicates. Volcaniclastic and rhyolitic lithologies occur sporadically throughout the sequence, as does pervasive iron mineralisation in the form of haematite, magnetite and siderite.
Chalcopyrite is the principal ore mineral and occurs chiefly in higher grade lenses enveloped by lower grade halos. The overall structure of Mt. Lyell is that of a steeply dipping overturned limb of a large anticline. The hanging wall (stratigraphic footwall) of the ore body consists of weakly mineralised chloritic schists with disseminated pyrite. The footwall is sharply defined by the Great Lyell Fault — Owen Conglomerate contact which truncates the ore body at its southern end.
Summary:
A sub-level caving underground mining method is used at the Prince Lyell ore body. Ore is loaded into trucks and then transported to the underground crusher and skip loading area. Crushed ore is then hauled by the Prince Lyell shaft and unloaded onto a conveyor feeding the ore bin at the Mt. Lyell processing plant.
Source:
Summary:
At the processing plant, the ore is crushed and ground prior to processing by flotation to produce copper concentrate which is then filtered to form a cake and trucked to the melba flats railway siding for transport to the port of Burnie. The concentrate is stored at Burnie until it is loaded into ships for transport to the port of Tuticorin from where it is trucked to the smelter.
Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | 2013 |
Copper
|
Head Grade, %
| 1.16 |
Production:
Commodity | Product | Units | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
Copper
|
Metal in concentrate
|
t
| 17,839 | 26,047 | 22,607 |
Copper
|
Concentrate
|
t
| 73,341 | 107,212 | 85,336 |
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 |
Ore tonnes mined
| 1,739,223 t | 2,519,464 t | 2,067,407 t | 1,976,177 t |
Tonnes processed
| | 2.4 Mt | | |
Reserves at March 31, 2019:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Measured & Indicated
|
29.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.09 %
|
Inferred
|
30 Mt
|
Copper
|
1.06 %
|
Heavy Mobile Equipment as of December 31, 2017:
HME Type | Model | Quantity |
Jumbo
|
.......................
|
1
|
Loader
|
.......................
|
1
|
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