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Pluton grows Cockatoo
Monday, 9 December 2013
Justin Niessner
PLUTON Resources has improved the probable reserve at its Cockatoo Island iron ore mine in Western Australia by 16.7% as extensional exploration efforts continue.
The update takes probable ore reserves at the site to 1.4 million tonnes at 68.1% iron with a minimum 65.5% iron cut-off grade.
Resources rose 30.5% to 14.1Mt, with 5Mt at 67.9% iron in the indicated category, 6.1Mt at 68.3% iron in the inferred category and an additional 3Mt of inferred material at 49.6% iron found in both the site’s primary seawall hematite area and its underlying footwall schist.
The new resource estimate updates a 2011 report and is additional to the direct shipping ore that has already been mined, crushed and exported since Pluton began working the site in October, 2012.
Pluton has made 16 shipments of Cockatoo fines totalling 700,000 tonnes to customers in China over the past 12 months.
The re-estimated inventory was enabled by an optimisation of the open pit design and a realignment of the mine’s seawall, which experienced a slip of rock fill material out into the ocean last October.
The company reported today that the western embankment of the seawall had been realigned to enable deeper mining access to additional ore and to counteract for the minor loss of ore sustained due to the instability event.
The update coincides with ongoing exploration activity at the site, including work at the Collier Bay area, a coastal portion of the Yampi Peninsula about 120km northeast of Derby and 40km east of Cockatoo Island.
Nine sites have been selected based during helicopter reconnaissance and were found to display similar characteristics to the geophysical signatures of either Cockatoo Island or Koolan Island.
Outcrop sampling from the area has returned iron grades of 55%, 42% and 57%.
The company has since lodged an exploration licence application for the area.
Shares in Pluton were last trading 7.1% down at A9.2c.