QUEENSLAND – Ivanhoe Australia has completed a scoping study for its Mount Elliott copper-gold project, and the company says this is one of the largest copper-gold mineralized systems ever discovered in Australia. The indicated resource is 210 million tonnes at 0.52% Cu and 0.32 g/t Au, and the inferred resource is 360 million tonnes at 0.40% Cu and 0.22 g/t Au. Together the resource contains 5.5 billion lb of copper and 4.7 million oz of gold, and Ivanhoe says the resource has the potential to grow.
The Mount Elliott project includes a former underground mine that can be reopened via an open pit. The modest amount of ore produced would be processed at Ivanhoe’s Osborne facility. Two options are under consideration for a vastly larger project: sub-level open stoping of the Swan high grade zone to provide 3 million t/y of ore and large scale block caving to produce 12 million t/y of ore. Development of the Swan zone would also require that a new mineral processing centre be built at Mount Elliott. There is also an open pit resource that can be mined independently of the Swan resource.
Visit Ivanhoe Australia at IvanhoeAustralia.com to learn more about Ivanhoe’s tenements in Queensland.
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