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Considerable progress has been made through the last quarter on the feasibility study for Goldstream Mining"s Cairn Hill magnetite/copper-gold project, located adjacent to the Stuart Highway and 55km south east of Coober Pedy in South Australia.
However the shortage of people and equipment has caused some slippage of Goldstream's ambitious timetable for completing the feasibility study. The study, which started at the end of the June quarter, is investigating two options: - On-site processing of ore to produce between 1 and 1.5 million tonnes per year magnetite concentrate and 23,000-35,000 tonnes/year of copper-gold concentrate - Off-site processing of ore in China with the export of up to 2.8 million tonnes per year ROM ore. Following visits to China it has become clear that off site processing has many attractions, including: - The capital costs for a processing plant in China are in the order of 35-40% of those in Australia - Construction time in China is 50-75% of the time in Australia - Operating costs in China are 35-50% of the Australian costs, primarily due to the remote location of Cairn Hill that results in higher power and labour costs - The ability to use by-products like the sulphur, and potentially phosphorus, which will help maximize project revenues. News sourced from International Mining Project News - www.im-mining.com |
