Pilot drilling for the first ventilation shaft has begun as AIC Mines pushes ahead with a 3km underground link between its Eloise copper mine and the new Jericho operation.

The Jericho link drive, from the 1065 level on the Eloise decline at 125m below surface, progressed 295m in the last quarter, the company said.

The link drive is expected to reach the first development ore at Jericho in June 2026.

The Jericho copper deposit is located south of the Eloise processing plant and has similar geology, mineralisation and metallurgy to the Eloise deposit, 60km south-east of Cloncurry.

AIC Mines said the staged development of the new mine and expansion of the Eloise processing plant capacity to 1.1Mtpa provided a pathway to increase production at Eloise to 20,000tpa copper as supported by current JORC-compliant ore reserves.

Related: Pybar in $149m contract win as Jericho advances

In its quarterly update today, the company also reported that the layout had been finalised for the processing plant expansion.

AIC Mines said the layout selected provided multiple benefits including that it:

• Minimises operational impacts to Eloise during construction.
• Minimises interface between the old and new plant which in turn allows EPC style construction approach.
• Keeps the new plant away from the old plant, minimising operational impacts during construction.
• Minimises process plant downtime during commissioning.
• Ensures that existing non-processing infrastructure is unaffected by the design.

‘Except for the final concentrate filtration plant selection, the overall process flowsheet was finalised during the quarter,’ the company said in an update to the ASX.

‘The process design is being prepared to a nameplate 1.1Mpta capacity. Recent exploration success suggests however that higher throughput could potentially be supported.

‘This potential upside is being considered in the major design elements. The project is proceeding with an EPC delivery strategy for the stand-alone parts of the process plant.’

Below: Eloise processing plant expansion – proposed new plant layout.