Capacity of OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill hoisting shaft increased to 6.5 Mt/y

OZ Minerals has announced the decision to increase the hoisting shaft capacity under construction at Prominent Hill from 6 Mt/y to 6.5 Mt/y. The Wira Shaft mine expansion project was approved in August 2021 with works well progressed and scheduled for completion in 2024. Project optimisation works identified the opportunity to increase the hoisting shaft capacity by ~8% to 6.5 Mt/y for an additional ~A$2 million with the increased capital to be absorbed within the approved A$600 million budget.

The change in design includes an upgrade to the shaft winder motor, enlarged skips and upgrades to the material handling system which in turn provide optionality to increase annual mine production rates. Work is underway to assess whether underground mining rates can be increased to fully utilise the increased 6.5 Mt/y hoisting shaft capacity. An update to this assessment, including any operating cost benefit, is expected in H2 2022.

OZ Minerals Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Cole, said: “Our agile approach to project delivery encourages our teams to constantly look for opportunities to improve stakeholder value. This is another example of our teams taking an opportunity mindset and identifying and pursuing potential highly value accretive opportunities. “Construction of the hoisting shaft at Prominent Hill extends the mine life, lowers operating cost, reduces operational risk and lowers emissions intensity compared to the current trucking operation. It also enables generational province potential with further mine life extensions possible as circa 67 Mt of resource remains outside the shaft expansion mine plan with the Resource also remaining open at depth.”

He added: “The Prominent Hill team is also continuing the drilling of the exploration targets at Walawuru and Papa. These shallow targets represent further upside potential for Prominent Hill as they are potentially accessible via a trucking operation simultaneously to the current trucking operation and future shaft operation. We continue to be excited about the long and productive future at Prominent Hill with the Wira shaft mine expansion enabling access to areas previously thought uneconomic and opening up potential new prospects.”