AIC Mines Limited (ASX: A1M) has been granted the mining lease for the Jericho Copper Mine by the Queensland Government, Department of Resources.
The approval allows for surface works at Jericho to commence within a maximum 10ha area and mine development activity to take place with a maximum of 20 people employed on site.
Jericho mining optimisation studies to reduce initial schedule risk and also longer-term operational risks are currently being finalised. The major component of this work is investigation of direct underground access to Jericho from the Eloise portal via a 3.6 kilometre link drive.
“AIC Mines acquired the Jericho copper deposit in January last year. To have the Mining Lease granted after only 16 months of ownership is testament to the quality of the project, the work ethic of the AIC Mines team and, importantly, the consistent and well-understood Queensland mining approvals process,” Managing Director Aaron Colleran said.
“Granting of the Jericho Mining Lease is an important milestone on the Jericho development journey. It allows us to advance surface works in preparation for mining, commit to long-lead time items, and confidently advance negotiations with lenders. The project will employ approximately 150 people over a 24-month construction period and then 100 new permanent employees when in production.”
“Development of a new underground mine at Jericho is a game changer for our Eloise copper mine. It provides a pathway to expanding annual production at Eloise to over 20,000t of copper and 10,000oz of gold in concentrate. Mining at Jericho will be lower cost than Eloise as it is much shallower, commencing below only 50m of cover. Expansion of the Eloise processing plant will further reduce operating costs through economies of scale and equipment improvements.”
“The world needs more copper as we build the infrastructure to transition away from fossil fuels. AIC Mines is focused on delivering into that demand. Queensland is a great place to be operating – it has the copper, the mining infrastructure and the skilled labour force to help fill what is expected to be an insatiable global appetite for copper.”
The Jericho copper deposit is located four kilometres south of the Eloise processing plant and has similar geology, mineralisation and metallurgy to Eloise. Development of the Jericho mine and expansion of the Eloise processing plant will lift production to over 20,000tpa copper and 7,500ozpa gold. It will reduce operating costs through economies of scale and de-risk production by increasing the number of available ore sources. Development of Jericho transforms Eloise into a cornerstone asset.
