by Ross Louthean

29Metals is looking to expanding plant capacity at its Capricorn Copper project in the Mt Isa inlier province where it is moving toward a mining re-commissioning.

As the last presenter at the Diggers & Dealers Forum, company CEO James Palmer said the project that was severely impacted by a major weather event in 2023 at a time when it was producing an annualised 24,000 tonnes of copper in metal.

The weather damage was no longer an issue as 29Metals re-establishes the operation to join its existing copper-rich Golden Grove mine operations in Western Australia which provides valuable zinc, gold and silver by-products.

Mr Palmer said Capricorn Copper has ore reserves of copper-silver of 19.2 million tonnes and is a high-grade underground mine and where rich mineralisation was first discovered in the area of Capricorn copper in the 1880s.

The project has a known 64 mt of resources.

With the water inventory now significantly below the maximum operating level, approval for a tailings storage facility “becomes the critical imperative for a re-start of production.”

Mr Palmer said that since joining the company in 2024 there has seen a significant reduction in site water levels and there should soon be details from the Queensland Government on issues such as tailing facilities to lead to expansion of resources and development.

The operation goes back to 1969 when Survey and Mining Ltd acquired the area now known as Capricorn Copper, with large-scale operations beginning in 1970.