Alma Metals has completed a revised mineral resource estimate for Central Queensland’s Briggs project, where more than one million tonnes of contained copper have been defined.
It marked another important milestone for Briggs, further highlighting the scale and robustness of the deposit, Alma Metals managing director Frazer Tabeart said.
“Not only have we defined a substantial volume of indicated resource, but this material sits at surface, is higher grade than the deeper mineralisation and is likely to be prioritised in the early stages of any future mining operation,” he said.
“Importantly, the block model indicates that coherent zones within the indicated resource are higher grade again, which could significantly enhance project economics during the initial stages of potential mining.”
The updated Briggs mineral resource estimate comprises 110Mt at 0.27 per cent copper, 39ppm molybdenum and 0.7g/t silver in the indicated category and 329Mt at 0.24 per cent copper, 34ppm molybdenum and 0.6g/t silver in the inferred category.
This delivers an overall inventory containing 1.1Mt of copper, 34Mlb of molybdenum and 9.2Moz of silver at a 0.2 per cent copper cut-off grade.
The new set of figures represents an increase of about 6 per cent in resource tonnage, about 7 per cent in contained copper and about 20 per cent in contained molybdenum compared to the previous 2023 estimate. It also includes an estimate for silver for the first time.
Alma points to strong potential to grow the resource, with drilling planned later this year to convert more of the existing inferred resource to indicated and to test high-priority copper-in-soil targets beyond the current resource footprint.
Meanwhile recent metallurgical testwork has demonstrated very high copper recoveries (94-95 per cent) into high-grade concentrates (23-29 per cent copper) at coarse to very coarse primary grind sizes.
Related: Briggs properties shine in flotation testwork
Alma is funding evaluation work for Briggs under an earn-in joint venture agreement with Canterbury Resources.
Mr Tabeart said the new block model established for the deposit would now form the foundation for developing a potential mining schedule as part of the scoping study.
This was the first true economic evaluation of the highly significant project, he said.
“In the context of rising copper prices, ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and more specifically the impending potential closure of the Mount Isa copper smelter, the scale, quality and secure location of Briggs couldn’t be more timely.”
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