mining commences at leichhardt buy

1131 Hay Street, West Perth, W.A. 6005 PO Box 1036 West Perth, W.A. 6872
Tel: (08) 9486 7100 Fax: (08) 9486 7300. Website: www.matrixmetals.com.au Email: [email protected]
23 April 2007
Manager Company Announcements
Company Announcements Office
Australian Stock Exchange Limited
Level 10, 20 Bond Street
ABN 42 082 593 235
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Electronic delivery
No of pages: 2
Mining Commences at Leichhardt
Summary
• Mining operations have commenced at Mt Watson
• Mt Watson haul road construction will be completed during April
• Ore haulage to the Mt Cuthbert processing plant will commence during May
• Leichhardt processing plant refurbishment will be completed during May
• Commissioning of crushing operations will commence during June
• First copper cathode production will be during July 2007
Leichhardt
Leichhardt will produce copper cathode at the Mt Cuthbert processing plant using ore
from the nearby Mt Watson orebody, utilising the heap-leach - solvent extraction -
electrowinning process (“SX/EW”).
The mining fleet of one Komatsu PC 850 excavator (85 tonne capacity), one Komatsu
PC220 excavator, three Komatsu 465 dump trucks (50 tonne capacity each), one
Komatsu 275 bulldozer, one Komatsu 65S grader, one water cart and the drill and blast
rig are on site and mining operations have commenced. Initially, top soil will be
removed and stored for later use and then stockpiles of ore will be built up at the Mt
Watson mine site.
Construction of the haul road from the Mt Watson orebody to the Mt Cuthbert
processing plant has essentially been completed and it is anticipated that the haul road
will be fully operational by the end of April. Ore cartage will commence during May,
with stockpiles of ore to be built up at the Mt Cuthbert ROM pad.
The crushing circuit will arrive on site during May and its commissioning will be
undertaken during June. During this commissioning stage, new ore will be stacked on 2
the leach pads which will enable the irrigation of ore during June. The crushing
circuit has been built to accommodate the expanded Stage 2 production requirements of
10,000 tpa of copper cathode, further details of which are below.
The final stages of refurbishment of the Mt Cuthbert processing plant are currently
being undertaken. This work has included replacement of the old electrowinning cells
with “as-new” cells previously purchased for the project, refurbishment of the solvent
extraction tanks, overhaul and repair of the process water ponds and the installation of a
new acid delivery system to the agglomerator. Also, a new additional accommodation
village and facilities are being installed. A engineering contractor is managing these
activities and their construction team is expected to demobilise during the second week
of May.
A specialist mechanical and electrical commissioning team from the same engineering
contractor is scheduled to arrive at Mt Cuthbert during May to complete all of the
inspection test plans prior to practical completion. A separate specialist process
commissioning team will mobilise to site in early May to ensure effective
commissioning of the entire processing circuit.
Planned Production Expansion
Stage One production from Leichhardt will produce copper cathode at a rate of 5,500
tpa of copper cathode, by treating of 2.1 million tonnes of ore over a four year period
from the Mt Watson orebody.
The Mt Watson orebody has a total resource of 8 million tonnes of ore. Following
further metallurgical and geotechnical testing, life extensions and/or a production rate
increase is planned for the Mt Cuthbert processing plant. In addition, there are
previously identified prospects at Mt Earl, Mt Wonder, Tewinga and Boomerang (all
within the vicinity of Mt Watson) which may also provide the opportunity for further
extensions and/or production rate increases.
The Mt Cuthbert plant can quite quickly be upgraded to a capacity of 10,000 tpa of
copper cathode production. Matrix has already purchased the main equipment
expansion components required for the upgrade, being the rectifier and electrowinning
circuit. The upgrade of the Mt Cuthbert plant to 10,000 tpa of copper cathode
production was previously the subject of a study by Matrix. Once results of the
metallurgical testing and geotechnical drilling are available the study will be updated
and economics assessed.
Yours Faithfully
Shane McBride
Managing Director