Austral copper venture steps up to the plate
By Industry Queensland
Austral Resources Australia has proudly shown off the first shiny sheet of copper cathode to come from production out of its new Anthill mine in North-West Queensland.
“This production milestone is of huge significance for Austral,” chief executive officer Steve Tambanis said.
“It concludes an intensive eight-month period where the Anthill Mine was developed from a bare paddock into a fully integrated mine and the Mount Kelly plant was refurbished and commissioned.”
The company has previously been producing cathode from remnant mined ore, achieving 680 tonnes
of cathode this year from that source.
Bringing Anthill online will see it producing copper cathode at a rate of 10,000tpa from mid 2022.
Mr Tambanis said 8.5Mt of overburden had been moved at Anthill since January and 354,000t of oxide ore had been mined, representing more than 4000t of contained copper.
More than 70,000 tonnes of Anthill ore has been stacked on the heap leach area at the Mount Kelly processing site to produce copper.
“The most important aspect is that the operation is de-risked and comfortably ramping-up to design capacity of 10,000tpa cathode,” Mr Tambanis said.
“With that comes increased sales revenue and cashflow.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to acknowledge the tireless efforts of our employees and
contractors for delivering a safe and successful start-up. Thiess, Roc-Drill, Orica, Northline Copper,
DBC Haulage have been wonderful. Simply an awesome team effort.”
Mr Tambanis said Austral’s exploration and development activities were being scaled up to discover and deliver new copper ore.
Related: MIM backs Austral in major exploration joint venture
“The MIM JV is a significant step to increasing our exploration efforts – with a seasoned regional
explorer that has operated in the district for decades,” he said.
“Austral commences oxide exploration drilling this month at a number of prospects and sulphide exploration drilling is planned to begin shortly at Lady Colleen.
“Discussions are underway with other potential exploration JV partners.”
