Coda paves way for SA copper mine

With a positive mining study Coda Minerals has unveiled a viable pathway to steady-state production of 2.5 million tonnes per annum at the company’s Elizabeth Creek copper project in South Australia. The mining assessment forms part of a broader scoping study and is centred around underground mining of the project’s cornerstone Emmie Bluff copper-cobalt deposit.

The proposed mining schedule will see Emmie Bluff mined over 17 years whilst also extracting material from two smaller satellite deposits to be used as mill feed during the development and ramp-up of the main operation.

The cornerstone deposit hosts 43 million tonnes at 1.3 per cent copper, 470 parts per million cobalt, 11 grams per tonne silver and 0.15 per cent zinc or 1.84 per cent copper equivalent. In terms of contained metal, it boasts 560,000 tonnes of copper, 20,000 tonnes of cobalt, 15.5 million ounces of silver and 66,000 tonnes of zinc or 800,000 tonnes of copper equivalent. Importantly, 92 per cent of the contained metal is classified in the ‘indicated’ resource category meaning it is available for use in future studies.

Coda says its study provides an excellent base case with opportunities for improvement and optimisation to be pursued in future work. With a cash balance of about $8 million Coda says it is well-funded and on track to deliver its scoping study in the first quarter of next year

Coda Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Chris Stevens said: “The completion of this Study, and in particular the key physicals and mine scheduling data that have been generated, represent some of the final key inputs towards the completion of the Elizabeth Creek Scoping Study. We are now moving rapidly towards finalising the Scoping Study, with integration of the mine plan, capital and operating cost estimates and completion of the financial model.

Emmie Bluff and its two satellite deposits – Windabout and MG14 – are known as ‘Zambian-style’ copper-cobalt deposits. Collectively the three deposits host a total of 1.1 million tonnes of copper equivalent in JORC resources at Elizabeth Creek.

Notably in 2021, Coda discovered a significant iron-oxide-copper-gold, or “IOCG” system adjacent to and below Emmie Bluff after a diamond drill hole intersected 200m of intense IOCG alteration including about 50m of copper sulphide mineralisation. Since then, the explorer has drilled 21 holes into the discovery with all except three returning significant widths of mineralisation – some grading over 3 per cent copper and 0.5 g/t gold.

The prospect of a significant IOCG system at Elizabeth Creek would not be out of the ordinary as the project is located just 100km south of BHP’s Olympic Dam mine, 15km from BHP’s Oak Dam West project and 50km west of OZ Minerals’ Carrapateena copper-gold project — all IOCG systems and all situated within the Gawler Craton.

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