Pybar tapped for new mine job as AIC gets ducks in a row

AIC Mines has awarded Pybar Mining Services preferred tender status for underground development work at the planned Jericho mine as well as its Eloise operation. Other work is rolling out for the Jericho project, with raiseboring services going out to tender soon and local contractors to be enlisted for early site works. News broke today of Queensland Government approval for the mining lease for the Jericho copper deposit, 4km south of the Eloise processing plant. AIC Mines managing director Aaron Colleran described the development of a new underground mine at Jericho as a game changer for the Eloise copper operation, allowing a step-up in annual production to more than 20,000t of copper and 10,000oz of gold in concentrate. "Mining at Jericho will be lower cost than Eloise as it is much shallower, commencing below only 50m of cover," he said. "Expansion of the Eloise processing plant will further reduce operating costs through economies of scale and equipment improvements.” Mr Colleran said the company was grateful for the support that it had received from local stakeholders in advancing the Jericho mine, including the McKinlay Shire Council, the Mitakoodi and Mayi People (Traditional Owners) and local landowners (Levuka and Elrose pastoral stations). Grant of the mining lease allows AIC to kick off surface works at Jericho within a 10ha area from next month and for mine development activity to take place with a maximum of 20 people employed on site. Mr Colleran said the surface works would be allocated to local contractors on a piecemeal basis. "We have good relationships with local contractors, so will likely negotiate directly with them rather than tender far and wide," he said. "Next major tender will be the raiseboring for the ventilation shafts. This tender process will commence in June." The total area of the mining lease is 881.7ha and it covers the Jericho mineral resource and its expected down-dip extensions as well the down-dip extension of the Eloise Deeps mineralisation. It is granted for an initial term of 10 years. The next key approvals required for the Jericho mine development are the Jericho Site Specific Environmental Authority (SSEA) and an amendment to the Eloise Environmental Authority. AIC Mines said discussions were underway with the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation to understand the requirements to achieve these approvals. Its latest quarterly report noted feedback from DESI that additional environmental information, predominantly water table data, would be required and said this was now being collected. It is not expected to cause any issues for eventual permitting of the operation other than time delay. The environmental submission is now expected to be considered later this year, with approval early in the new year. The company stated that this timing would not materially impact the overall timeline to ramp up to full production of 600,000tpa at Jericho, with recent mining studies having reduced the time from 45 months to 36 months. AIC Mines is finalising Jericho mining optimisation studies to reduce initial schedule risk and longer-term operational risks. The major component of this work is investigation of direct underground access to Jericho from the Eloise portal via a 3.6km link drive. The company plans further exploration drilling at Jericho and also has drill rig completing holes around the planned Jericho underground infrastructure to gather geotechnical information. Below: Plan showing the location of the Eloise and Jericho mining leases, Eloise surface infrastructure and Eloise and Jericho mineral resources.

Pybar tapped for new mine job as AIC gets ducks in a row

Industry Queensland

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