Havilah Resources Ltd has released a maiden Ore Reserve for Kalkaroo of 474,000 t of contained copper and 1.41 Moz of gold for the Kalkaroo copper-cobalt-gold project in the northeast of South Australia. This Ore Reserve was independently estimated by mining consultants, RPMGlobal, as part of the Kalkaroo preliminary PFS report prepared for Wanbao Mining Ltd.
• Total 100.1 Mt Ore Reserve, consisting of: 90.2 Mt Proved, and 9.9 Mt Probable, in accordance with the JORC 2012 code for reporting of ore reserves
• Largest undeveloped open pit copper deposit in Australia on a copper equivalent ore reserve basis, with a 0.74% Cu-equivalent grade
• High conversion of 75% of JORC Measured and Indicated Resources to Ore Reserves
• Proposed large scale open-pit mine located in a logistically favourable region of northeast South Australia, near Broken Hill
• Further PFS work is in progress to address several potentially significant value adding options, including the addition of cobalt and the optimisation of metal recoveries
• Mine permitting, including native title negotiations, is well advanced
• Havilah owns Kalkaroo Station on which the project is situated
• Places Havilah in a very favourable position in the current strong uptrending copper cycle, says Havilah.
Havilah notes: “Release of the Kalkaroo ore reserve is an important milestone for Havilah, as it establishes the Kalkaroo project as the largest undeveloped open pit copper-gold deposit in Australia on a copper-equivalent Ore Reserve basis. Kalkaroo is larger than any other Australian based undeveloped open pit copper deposit and is second in size only to the Productora deposit in Chile amongst its ASX listed copper peers.
“Kalkaroo’s copper-equivalent grade of 0.74%, which is enhanced by a material gold credit, exceeds that of its comparable size Australian based peers. The gold serves as a natural hedge, with copper and gold prices often being in opposite metal price cycles, which potentially lowers the inherent risk of the project.
Kalkaroo is unique amongst its Australian copper peers in containing a 23,200 t cobalt resource (in an Inferred Resource of 193 Mt at 0.012% – refer ASX announcement of 7 March 2018). This also makes Kalkaroo the largest sulphide cobalt deposit underpinned by copper in Australia on a mineral resource basis, as highlighted in Havilah’s recent Copper Strategy – Enhanced by Cobalt presentation.
“It is important to note that the Ore Reserve estimate above does not take into account cobalt at this stage, in part because the cobalt resource for the Kalkaroo deposit was released after the cutoff date for inclusion in the first phase of the PFS study. Further studies by Havilah, currently in progress, aim to quantify the positive impact inclusion of the cobalt resource will have on the Kalkaroo project economics.
“An outstanding attribute of Kalkaroo is the high potential for discovery of additional resources, given that the Kalkaroo deposit is not closed off on any drill section either along strike or down dip. Three separate nearby prospects, each with well mineralised drill intercepts, can also potentially add appreciable ore feed, if converted to resources by further drilling. Havilah’s geological models show that Kalkaroo forms part of very substantial replacement copper-cobalt-gold mineralized system whose full extent has yet to be determined.
“Kalkaroo places Havilah in the fortunate position of having one of the few large undeveloped open-pit copper deposits located in a politically stable jurisdiction and favourable logistical setting. This is at a time of unprecedented projected future demand for copper and cobalt to satisfy the rapidly expanding electric vehicle and renewable energy industries.”
