Allkem Limited has stated that further grade control drilling at Mt Cattlin has verified the location and grade of ore that will be mined through the remainder of H2 FY23.
Image Credit: Christoph Schaarschmidt/Shutterstock.com
The Company expects that the production for the June half will be around 80,000 to 90,000 tons, with an annual production of 114,000 to 124,000 tons.
As earlier advised, first-half production was affected by fine-grained mineralization and lower-grade ore with associated lower recoveries that restricted first-half production to around 34,000 tons.
Grade control drilling started in November 2022 as soon as unfavorable ore features were determined. This drilling has continued to gradually cover production areas that will be mined in the remainder of the financial year.
The outcomes gathered from the drilling have confirmed Company expectations that production will improve as mining increasingly moves from the upper end of the orebody into more central zones. It is anticipated that the Mt Cattlin process plant will be operating once more at full capacity.
Low-grade concentrate’s ongoing sales at the time of H2 FY23 will continue to supplement earnings and revenue.
We are seeing Mt Cattlin returning to normal levels of production after the technical team effectively managed the unfavorable mineralogy and ore characteristics experienced throughout the December half. Production over the last month has improved materially and with information from the grade control drilling we expect higher production rates to continue.
Mr Martín Pérez de Solay, Allkem Limited
Source: https://www.allkem.co/