Cyprium Metals Ltd (ASX:CYM, OTC:CYPMF) has released a 2024 mineral resource estimate for the above-surface material stacked on heap leach pads at the Nifty Copper Mine in Western Australia, detailing 54,050 tonnes of processing-ready resource.
The resource concerns only part of the stockpiled material at Nifty, with a review of historical production data indicating substantial potential for resource upside in the unsampled portion.
Strong foundation to build from
“This is back-to-basics execution,” said Cyprium executive chair Matt Fifield, “Restarting the cathode plant is the next logical step for Cyprium’s new management team and the first phase of Nifty’s redevelopment.
“To move towards operations, we need comprehensive and up-to-date resource information.
“Our team produced this MRE by going back to first principles, organising and incorporating all prior existing data and including new analysis from the 2021 sonic drill program.
“The result is the first updated MRE since 2015 for the unrecovered copper on Nifty’s heap leach pads.
“It’s a strong foundation on which we can build our forward plans.”
Drilling efforts were halted some 3 to 4 metres above the bottom of the heap leach pad lining to protect the infrastructure, leaving a reasonable volume of material untested.
Near-term commercial opportunity
Records of historical production at Nifty show that 17.3 million tonnes of mined material was stacked on the pads at the mine, containing 311,169 tonnes of copper in aggregate.
The mine produced 217,124 tonnes of copper cathodes, until plant operations ceased abruptly in 2009 as underground mining began, leaving 91,140 tonnes of copper unaccounted for.
“Looking back at the history of the site, we see that cathode production at Nifty stopped abruptly when the new underground mine began,” said Fifield.
“The owner at the time was primarily interested in supplying feed to the concentrate market from the now abandoned underground mine.
“The result was that the cathode plant was shut before its time, leaving unrecovered copper in the heap leach material.
“This is Cyprium’s near-term commercial opportunity.”