Evolution Mining expects to appoint an underground mining contractor this quarter for its Bert development at the Ernest Henry mine near Cloncurry.

Mine establishment work is progressing, with activity set to ramp up in the June quarter next year and first Bert production scheduled in FY29.

The Evolution Mining board gave the green light in February for a $160 million investment to bring the additional mining front online at the North-West Queensland copper-gold site.

The mineral resource estimate for Bert stands at 4.9Mt at 1 per cent copper and 0.82 g/t gold for 50kt contained copper and 130kz gold.

In its latest quarterly report, the company said it had conducted the tender for the underground mining contract and expected to make the appointment early in the September 2026 quarter.

Progressing further potential options for mill feed

In a results conference call, Evolution managing director and chief executive officer Lawrie Conway was asked about the potential to secure other opportunities to make the most of the site’s processing capacity ahead of Bert coming online.

“There are operators out there that are looking for material to come through the plant, and I do think (in) 12 months we’ll be able to find some alternative ore sources there,” he said. “And also the Corrella project – we’ve started drilling up there.”

While it may not provide an ore source in the next 18 months to two years, this was something Evolution had identified – in addition to Bert – to go above the current mining and processing rates, he said.

The Corella project consists of 15 exploration tenements covering about 1220sq km in the region surrounding the Ernest Henry operation.

The company announced a deal with Rio Tinto Exploration to acquire the tenements early last year, following on from a deal with Red Fox Resources in early 2024 allowing it to earn an 80 per cent ownership interest in the Cloncurry North project.

“… We basically are now looking at what are the good targets that we can drill out that may provide us with an opportunity to process that material through the Ernest Henry plant,” Mr Conway said. “They’re all within that trucking distance, within 50km of the process plant.”