May/June 2013 - The ASIA Miner

Asian Intelligence
Evolution opens Mt Carlton mine
EVOLUTION Mining’s Mt Carlton gold-silvercopper
mine near Townsville in northeast
Queensland was officially opened in April by
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. Mt
Carlton is Evolution’s fifth operation and is
expected to be the lowest cost mine in the
portfolio from the 2014 financial year. Once
in full production average annual payable
gold production is expected to be about
55,000 gold equivalent ounces at C1 cash
costs of less than Aus$500 per ounce after
by-products credits.
Speaking at the opening Premier Newman
congratulated Evolution on its commitment to
the region with the company having invested
more than $200 million since 2006 on exploration,
evaluation and development of the
mine. “I’m delighted by the jobs created, the
skills to be learned, and by the boost to local
businesses and the Queensland economy.
Mt Carlton is expected to create around 135
fulltime jobs when the mine is in full production
and further boost the competitiveness of
Queensland’s resources sector.”
Many guests attended the official opening
and also heard from Evolution’s executive
chairman. “To be opening a mine, only seven
years since its discovery in 2006, is a tribute to
the business environment in Australia and in
particular Queensland. The current mine life is
at least 12 years and we expect this will be significantly
longer through exploration success.
“We must also advance the social and economic
conditions of the communities in which
we operate. At a practical level, this means
supporting local businesses in supply and procurement,
sponsoring apprenticeships and
training opportunities for young talented individuals,
maintaining a strong focus on local recruitment
and being active and positive
contributors to the community,” he concluded.
The Mt Carlton processing plant is in rampup
stage and full capacity is expected to be
achieved on a sustainable basis in the September
quarter. As at April 8 the plant had processed
about 10,000 tonnes of ore from A39 with
average grade of 217 grams/tonne silver. Average
silver recovery to concentrate has been
67.6% with 689 dry tonnes of concentrate produced.
Concentrate has been trucked to
Townsville awaiting shipment to China for smelting.
The first shipment, to Humon Smelting
Co, is expected to occur during May.
Mt Carlton’s V2 deposit boasts measured,
indicated and inferred resources of 25.2 million
tonnes @ 1.7 grams/tonne gold, 19
grams/tonne silver and 0.24% copper for
1.35 million ounces of gold, 15.1 million ounces
of silver and 59,700 tonnes of copper.
The A39 deposit has resources of 2.7 million
tonnes @ 178 grams/tonne silver and 0.12%
copper for 15.49 million silver ounces and
3100 tonnes of copper. Evolution operates
the Cracow, Mt Rawdon, Pajingo and Mt
Carlton mines in Queensland and the Edna
May mine in Western Australia.
Direct Nickel stage 1 test success
Direct Nickel test plant operations personnel Yohanes Tandi and Chris Mwaba.
COMMISSIONING of stage 1 of Direct Nikkel’s
(DNi) unique nickel extraction process
test plant in Perth has been successful. The
company views results of the first three
months of operations as very successful and
a strong indication that demonstration of the
DNi Process on a continuous basis will be
achieved during the year.
DNi has developed a potential nickel extraction
process game-changer in the global
nickel sector. The DNi Process is unique hydrometallurgy
that not only treats both limonite
and saprolite ores but does so economically
with industry competitive capital and
operating costs. In doing so, the process has
potential to add materially to the prospective
value of nickel laterite resources which receive
access to the process.
Hot commissioning has been achieved over
three months. For the first part of that period
activity focused on the leaching, solid liquid
separation and intermediate product circuits.
These units quickly achieved design metallurgical
performances. In the latter stage of
hot commissioning the nitric acid recovery
circuit was brought into use.
The running strategy is to have continuous
operating campaigns for 10 days followed
by a five day break. Campaign 6,
which started in early April, focused on running
the complete stage 1 flowsheet with
recycle of recovered acid and magnesium
oxide. DNi’s CEO Russell Debney says the
company is on schedule with plans to deliver
a completed test plant program in 2013
following the successful delivery of stage 1.
“We are on schedule and performing to design,
which is rewarding for all involved in
the commissioning.”
10 | ASIA Miner | May/June 2013