Osborne’s new dawn to bring hundreds of jobs

Chinova Resources aims to kick off mining in March in a strategy to resume processing at its Osborne plant and tap the riches of a prime suite of North-West Queensland copper-gold tenements. The operation is expected to employ about 250 to 300 people, according to Dee Tahan, who has been appointed as general manager to lead the Osborne EML (extended mine life) project. He said the company planned to mine the brownfields Starra 254 and 222 pits and Starra 222 underground site first, followed by a 23.Mt heap leach project at Mount Dore. Dee Tahan. "The philosophy is to get that cashflow from the pits and underground and develop the Mount Dore heap leach and see where that takes us," Mr Tahan said. "There is a strong project pipeline with the Mount Elliott and SWAN deposits." Chinova's 2Mtpa copper-gold flotation plant at Osborne, 150km south of Cloncurry, has been undergoing a refurbishment and upgrade program since processing the last batches of Osborne mine ore in February 2021. It lies about 50km south of the Selwyn precinct, where a line of mineralisation has been mined in the past. Mr Tahan said Chinova was installing a new processing circuit at Osborne to treat oxide resources from that area which had not been exploited previously. "Given the price of copper, feasibility work suggests we can extract good value from the oxide ores," he said. Plant set for first ore in June quarter Chinova is preparing to mine Starra Line sites. He said the processing plant would be ready to receive first ore in the June quarter of this year. The restart will also involve bitumen sealing the 50km of private road that connects the Starra Line sites to the Osborne plant. Mr Tahan said the operations would involve four full mining crews and four full processing crews working on an 8/6 roster. He said the company had started advertising for operators and would step up recruitment in other areas once it had received the final environmental authority for the plan. "We're expecting that later this month from the Department of Environment and Science. That's the catalyst for us to get moving," Mr Tahan said. The Osborne site offered great advantages in terms of well-established infrastructure, including the air strip and workforce accommodation, he said. "The site has a wonderful history - it is one of those sites that keeps giving. Now, in the economic climate, I think the best is yet to come," Mr Tahan said. "Establishing the capability to treat oxide ore opens a new chapter. "I also see some good opportunities for us to work a bit more collaboratively with some of the mines in the region. We are all chasing the same labour market and procurement services." Among Chinova's regional assets is the Mt Elliott / SWAN deposit, with in excess of 500Mt of potential mill feed, making it one of Queensland’s largest under-developed copper deposits.

Osborne’s new dawn to bring hundreds of jobs

Industry Queensland

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