Will the plant cost another 100M- Nooo, page-2

Wonder if this option can run in tandem with the NCU copper ingot burner ??

OZL ASX release today !


Completion of Hydromet trial Highlights:

 Hydromet demonstration plant trial successfully concludes  Confirmation of significant copper upgrade in concentrate

 Impurities in concentrate reduced to well below penalisable levels The Hydromet demonstration plant trial has successfully concluded after 19 weeks of operation. Approximately 150 tonnes of copper concentrate from Prominent Hill was treated in two separate parcels of differing mineralogical quality.

The first parcel achieved an upgrade to 53-55 per cent copper, while the second parcel was upgraded to 58-60 per cent copper. In both cases, the impurities in the concentrate were reduced to well below penalisable levels.

“The Hydromet trial has surpassed our expectations,” said Andrew Cole, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. “This is a great result for OZ Minerals and a great result for the South Australian copper industry. “Samples of the concentrate product from the Hydromet trial are currently being provided to existing and potential customers.

We think such high quality concentrates will be in demand by the market, particularly at a time when we are seeing declining copper grades and an increase in impurities,” said Mr Cole. The demonstration plant achieved a 91 per cent run time with minimal concentrate product variability.

We will now review the technical data that has been collected and use this information to make cost and efficiency improvements to the Hydromet process that can be applied to a full scale plant. A number of equipment vendors have been involved to ensure sufficient information is available to size and select full scale equipment. All of this information will be analysed during Q1 2016 with a view to updating designs and cost estimates and integrating the findings into the future planning of Carrapateena.

OZ Minerals continues to consider a number of options for the development of the Carrapateena project. These include a high grade option which will access the high grade core of the deposit, an optimised block cave project and a rail option. „Hydromet‟ combines new chemistry with existing, proven technology. When the process is applied commercially, it will significantly reduce export costs and increase the concentrate quality

The South Australian State Government has provided $10 million to fund a joint study with OZ Minerals and Adelaide University to add further value to copper concentrates produced in South Australia‟s Gawler Craton. OZ Minerals pledged an additional $8 million to find an established plant to quickly and efficiently start demonstration scale testing.