28th Jul 2020 10:02
(Alliance News) - Rio Tinto PLC on Tuesday announced the maiden resource at Winu copper-gold project as well as a new mineralisation discovery.
The mining group focused on Australia said it disclosed to the Australian Securities Exchange the maiden inferred mineral resource at its fully owned Winu copper-gold project in Paterson Province, Western Australia.
The inferred mineral resource reported at a 0.2% copper equivalent cutoff was 503 million tonnes of ore at 0.5% copper equivalent. Within the 503 million tonnes was 188 million tonnes yielding 0.7% copper equivalent with a cutoff grade of 0.5% copper equivalent.
The findings support the development of a relatively shallow open-pit mine, Rio Tinto said, meaning the costs will be low.
Rio Tinto hopes to start production in 2023.
Rio Tinto also discovered a new zone of gold dominant mineralisation two kilometres from the Winu deposit, as well as other promising drilling results. This may mean it is possible for the company to develop multiple ore bodies within one system in the area, it said.
Stephen McIntosh, who heads up Growth & Innovation and Health, Safety & Environment at Rio Tinto, said: "We're taking a more agile and innovative approach at Winu, and are working on the studies for a small-scale, start-up operation focused on Winu's higher-grade core as we take another step towards commercialising this 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."
Rio Tinto shares were down 1.1% at 4,785.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
By Greg Roxburgh; [email protected]
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