Sandfire, Talisman to develop new copper mine

A joint venture between Sandfire Resources and Talisman Mining has approved plans to spend $72 million on developing a new copper-gold mine north of Meekatharra.

The Monty project is 10 kilometres from Sandfire’s DeGrussa mine and infrastructure, and is 70 per cent owned by Sandfire and 30 per cent owned by Talisman.

Project expenses will be divided up according to the project’s ownership structure, according to a feasibility study on the project released today.

Sandfire has also agreed to purchase Talisman’s 30 per cent share of product from Monty, which will be processed at the miner’s DeGrussa processing facilities.

About 70,000 tonnes of copper, 21,000 ounces of gold and 288,000oz of silver is expected to be mined at Monty over three years.

Concentrate capacity at DeGrussa is also to be expanded from 1.5 million tonnes per annum to 400,000mtpa.

Mine development is expected to begin in the second quarter of the 2018 financial year, with production expected a year later.

“Monty will be the first new copper mine at Doolgunna outside of DeGrussa, and we believe that the discovery and rapid development of this high quality deposit represents the start of an exciting new chapter for this emerging VMS province,” Sandfire managing director Karl Simich said.

“The feasibility study has delivered impressive results, confirming the technical and financial robustness of the Monty project as a satellite source of ore feed for DeGrussa.

“This confirms that Monty will make a significant contribution to the production profile and overall economics of the DeGrussa mining operation.”

Sandfire shares were 0.4 per cent lower to $6.60 each at the close, while Talisman shares were 3.9 per cent lower to 36.5 cents each.