Former owner Australian Resources placed the asset on care and maintenance in mid-1999 before Selwyn purchased it early this year. The company has not looked back since.

Selwyn has rewarded shareholders with a more than 50% capital gain since its debut on the Australian Stock Exchange on June 30.

Another added bonus for Selwyn was the rise in the copper price from $1.30 per pound to $1.50/lb.

Selwyn’s mining efforts have solely concentrated on copper production as opposed to gold, and for this reason the company decided it was time to return to the drawing board to re-evaluate the resource.

“Our focus is copper rather than gold and we have discovered with the Selwyn deposit the two don’t necessarily occur together,” managing director William Howe he said.

“We are currently in the throes of getting a better handle on the resource.”

Howe said Selwyn was previously mined for higher-grade deposits but there was the potential for a lower-grade operation.

“Selwyn sits on granted mining leases and is littered with over 1400 bore holes,” he said.

“But no-one so far has looked at the Selwyn deposit as a lower-grade ore mine.”

He expects the company will make a resource and reserve announcement to the ASX by November.

Currently, the mine is producing solely from the higher-grade Mt Elliott deposit at a rate of 610,000 tonnes below its 940,000t capacity. The mine is working round-the-clock, but the mill is currently working on a 16/12-day rotation.

“We are in no hurry to fill the plant with ore,” Howe said.

“Not until we get a firm handle on what it is we are sitting on.”