The first key to the Matrix formula for success lies in the 5500 tonnes per annum Mt Cuthbert heap leach mine, vended into Matrix by Murchison United. The second is the White Range project, previously owned by Majestic Resources. And capping it off is the 950sq.km of exploration permits in some of the world’s most prospective copper country.
The assets are within 100km of Australia’s copper capital, Mt Isa, and have the potential to turn Matrix into a long-term player in the global copper business.
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Matrix Metals managing director, Andrew Chapman (standing, far left) ... the immediate aim of the new business is to boost annual copper output to between 18,000-20,000tpa within three years.
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Matrix’s chief executive, Andrew Chapman, says the immediate aim of the new business is to boost its annual copper output to between 18,000-20,000tpa within three years. The first step along this path will be to expand Mt Cuthbert to about 8000-9000tpa, a relatively simple move that will cost about $1 million.
White Range is then expected to be developed separately with a feasibility study scheduled for completion in the second half of next year. If the study is positive, White Range is slated to become a 10,000tpa producer from the second half of 2002. Synergies between Mt Cuthbert and White Range could help to cut capital development costs to less than $15 million.
“The two projects are a perfect fit,” Chapman said. “They will allow Matrix to become a significant player in the Mt Isa region. We are unlocking value by bringing two projects under a common management umbrella.”
Mt Cuthbert is located 90km north-west of Cloncurry. It was commissioned in November 1996, using SX-EW technology and produces 99.99% London Metal Exchange grade-A copper cathode. By the end of 1999, Mt Cuthbert had yielded a cumulative 13,800 tonnes of copper. Ore for the central treatment operation is hauled from a series of open pits, heap leached and then processed in the SX-EW plant.
By December last year 1.24 million tonnes of ore had been mined at an average grade of 1.52% copper from four deposits. Total reserves are approximately 2.2Mt, enough for about another five years of extraction and six years for the ore stacks.
White Range is located 35km south of Cloncurry. It contains an estimated resource of 12.6Mt grading 1.2% copper, equivalent to an estimated 151,584t of copper metal. There are five main resources defined at White Range. Metallurgical testwork has confirmed the deposits are amenable to open-cut mining and acid heap leaching.
Matrix hopes to increase the mine life at Mt Cuthbert from five to at least seven years through exploration, while White Range is predicted to start with a minimum ore position of six to eight years.
