Galena Mining has retained Australia-based GR Engineering Services to carry out the bulk of the definitive feasibility study (DFS) on its Abra lead-silver project in Western Australia.

The engineering company will undertake key portions of the DFS related to plant design, capital and operating cost estimation, and process and non-process infrastructure evaluation.

The commencement of the study comes following an “excellent” prefeasibility study for Abra, according to Galena. This envisaged a 1.2 Mt/y underground mine and conventional flotation concentrator for the project, producing a high-grade lead-silver concentrate containing some 91,000 t/y of lead and 760,000 oz/y of silver over a 14-year mine life.

GR Engineering Managing Director, Geoff Jones said: “GR Engineering was involved in the Abra PFS and we are pleased to have been engaged to deliver key aspects of the DFS and to assist Galena to realise the significant potential of the Abra base metals project.”

The DFS is targeted for completion in mid-2019. In the meantime, Galena expects to make progress on a number of other milestones including an updated resource, a review of the Abra ore reserve and underground mine design/schedule, permitting, and continuation of discussions related to offtake and project finance.

Galena is targeting commencement of construction at Abra in 2019, followed by initial production in 2021 and the first full year of steady-state commercial output in 2022.

During the past 11 years, GR Engineering has completed more than 40 design and construction projects and over 160 feasibility studies including a number of Australia base metals projects, Galena said.