RE: Antimony, it comes with gold.27 Dec 2025 13:17
Thank you James, gives a good forecast but it still uses those particular technical parameters. My original point that ‘all’ scenarios cannot be sensibly used now comes from the most recent ore pre concentration update, from the Altrius study based on the 3 trialed results showed the CPF test work, using NovaCellTM being most effective on the lower grade material.
Case 5 would have been based on using Tomra bulk ore sorting for all ore, which would have utilised a 10mtpa concentrator at an initial mining rate of 20mtpa.
The latest Altrius update concluded “NovacellTM showed the most encouraging results with 78% of the copper mineralisation recovered into only ‘5%’ of the mass, with the head grade of the composite sample of 0.19% Cu being upgraded into a pre-concentrate product of 2.8% Cu.
NovaCellTM coarse particle flotation also recovered 30% more copper than conventional flotation.”
This essentially means once the higher grades are mined and processed on the assumption of a 10mtpa downstream processing train, when the pre-concentrated lower grades come into the mine plan, they would only then utilise a fifth of that processor capacity, or a tenth of one that has a 20mtpa capacity, which is highly unlikely.
How will the overall initial ‘mining’ rate of 20mtpa be affected?
Can the high grades be pre concentrated?
If not,
Mine 20mtpa, process half and stockpile half until pre concentrated lower grades come into play?
Dual train processing? (Caravel had optimised their DFS with dual trains, Telfer uses dual trains)
2x 5mtpa processing trains perhaps?
It opens up new combinations of mining scenarios, rates and methodologies to utilise capacity which the further more detailed test work is also required for, is not just metallurgy.
Will be a new base case I’m sure at its simplest, but swings and roundabouts comes to mind.