Successful exploration drilling over the last 12 months has significantly expanded the resource at Rosebery mine in Australia by 65% to 11.7 Mt, its highest level for many years. Importantly at 3.8 Mt, the reserves at Rosebery are nearly 50% higher than at the same time last year.
Commenting on the results, Zinifex’s CEO, Greig Gailey said, “This increase in resource has exceeded our expectations. Rosebery for the past 70 years has been like the Magic Pudding. As you mine some, it always replaces itself. However with these results, we are optimistic that we will increase the size of the Rosebery resource rather than merely replenish it.”
“What is most impressive is that we are only one year into the three year Project Horizons programme to increase the life of the Rosebery mine and the results to date make our goal of still mining at Rosebery in 2020 look very achievable.”
The additional resources defined came largely from a combination of drilling deeper extensions of known lens and the discovery of new areas of mineralisation.
“The West Coast of Tasmania is an important part of Zinifex’s long term strategy to grow its mining business. If we are successful in further increasing the size of the resource over the next two years we will contemplate investing to expand the output from Rosebery.” Gailey said. “The promising start that Project Horizon has delivered follows on from the successful acquisition of Wolfden Resources and the formation of exploration joint ventures in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Tunisia, Sweden, Mexico and China. It is further evidence of how we are transforming Zinifex into a mining company with a clearly defined and comprehensive suite of future investment opportunities.”