Rio finds gold at Winu

Rio Tinto said today it was planning a small-scale start-up mine at its Winu project in the Pilbara and sees potential for large-scale mining of its copper and gold deposits in the area.

The global mining giant today released a maiden inferred mineral resource for its wholly-owned Winu project, which has excited a lot of interest from explorers.

The inferred resource, reported at a 0.2% copper equivalent cut-off, is 503 million tonnes at 0.45% copper equivalent (CuEq).

This includes a higher-grade component of 188Mt at 0.68% CuEq at a cutoff grade of 0.45% CuEq.

The miner also said it had discovered a new zone of gold-dominant mineralisation about two kilometres east of the Winu deposit, at a prospect called Ngapakarra, along with “a number of other encouraging drilling results” close to Winu.

The Winu project lies in the Yeneena Basin of the Paterson Province, and about 130 kilometres from Newcrest Mining’s Telfer copper-gold mine.

Rio Tinto group executive of growth & innovation Stephen McIntosh said the miner was taking a more agile and innovative approach at Winu.

It was studying a small-scale, start-up operation focused on Winu’s higher-grade core as a first step towards commercialising the deposit.

“We are also assessing options for future expansion in the Paterson region given the extent of mineralisation identified to date and our large land package,” Mr McIntosh added.

“The additional exploration results reported today support our view that there is potential to develop the Paterson region into a large-scale operation over time through both our 100% owned tenements and joint ventures.

We’ve so far carried out exploration activity in just 2% of our tenements in the region and we’re building on this discovery at Winu with further encouraging results.”

“We’ve so far carried out exploration activity in just 2 per cent of our tenements in the region and we’re building on this discovery at Winu with further encouraging results,” Mr McIntosh added.

Rio chief executive of copper and diamonds Arnaud Soirat said Winu added a further option to the group’s copper portfolio.

First production at Winu is targeted for 2023.

The mining giant is currently exploring Antipa Minerals’ Citadel copper-gold project, which lies about five kilometres east of its Winu discovery.

Rio now holds a 51 per cent stake in the Citadel JV after investing $11 million in exploration at the beginning of the year.

Antipa recently confirmed Rio would spend a further $14 million within five years, including a likely $2 million in 2020.

Rio is also exploring Alloy Resources’ 423 square kilometre Paterson tenements after signing a farm-in deal in mid-2018, with the mining giant to earn an initial 70 per cent stake in the project.

Rio is sole-funding a drill program scheduled for the June quarter.

Its shares were up 2.3 per cent at 12:21pm AEST to trade at $105.32.