Location
The Nifty Copper Mine is located on the western edge of the Great Sandy Desert in the north-eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia, approximately 350 km southeast of Port Hedland.
History
Nifty was initially discovered by WMC in 1981 and commenced operation in 1993 as an open pit oxide copper mine with processing via heap leaching and solvent extraction-electrowinning (“SX/EW”) recovery to produce copper cathodes. From 2006, it transitioned to an underground sulphide mine with processing via standard flotation to produce a copper concentrate at rates of over 50,000 tonnes of contained copper per year. Between commencement of the oxide operation and 26 November 2019, when the mine was placed onto care and maintenance (“C&M”), Nifty has produced more than 700,000 tonnes of copper metal.
Cyprium acquired 100% of the Nifty Copper Mine in March 2021, as part of a larger transaction with Metals X (CYM ASX Announcement – Transformational Acquisition of Highly Attractive Copper Portfolio, 10 February 2021).
Status
Over the past two years, Cyprium has invested significant time and resources to refurbish the Nifty SX-EW (solvent extraction and electrowinning) plant and build a comprehensive understanding of the open pit potential of Nifty’s sulphide orebody. Cyprium intends to re-start operations utilising a heap leach SX-EW to retreat the current heap leach pads, open pit oxide and transitional material. Concurrently, comprehensive metallurgical test work is expected to determine the optimal pathway to unlock value from the open pit sulphide material.
Infrastructure
The Nifty Copper Mine has substantial existing infrastructure, including:
- 2.8 Mtpa sulphide concentrator (in care and maintenance since November 2019)
- 25ktpa copper cathode heap leach SX/EW facility (in care and maintenance since January 2009)
- 21 MW gas turbine power station
- Full heavy vehicle workshops and accommodation village
- Fully sealed all-weather airstrip
Location of Nifty Copper Mine
JORC Resources
TABLE 1: Nifty Mineral Resource Estimate at 14 March 2024
| Oxidation Type | Cut- Off |
Measured | Indicated | Inferred | Total | ||||||||
| %Cu | t | CuCUT% | t Cu | t | CuCUT% | t Cu | t | CuCUT% | t Cu | t | CuCUT% | t Cu | |
| OXIDE, SAP, TRANS | 0.25 | 2,603,000 | 1.02 | 26,471 | 17,519,000 | 0.74 | 130,081 | 849,000 | 0.70 | 5,902 | 20,971,000 | 0.78 | 162,000 |
| SULPHIDE | 0.25 | 35,452,000 | 0.98 | 347,610 | 63,395,000 | 0.80 | 505,685 | 5,199,000 | 0.43 | 22,479 | 104,047,000 | 0.84 | 876,000 |
| TOTAL | 38,055,000 | 0.98 | 374,080 | 80,915,000 | 0.79 | 635,765 | 6,048,000 | 0.47 | 28,381 | 125,018,000 | 0.83 | 1,038,000 | |
- Ore tonnes are reported as million tonnes (Mt) and rounded to the nearest 10,000; Cu tonnes are rounded to the nearest 100 tonnes; rounding may result in some slight apparent discrepancies in totals
The Updated Nifty Mineral Resource Estimate was released in an ASX announcement dated 14th March 2024.
Competent Person Statement
The information in this report that relates to the estimation and reporting of the Nifty Mineral Resource Estimate dated 14 March 2024 is an accurate representation of the recent work completed by MEC Advisory Pty Ltd. Mr Dean O’Keefe has compiled the work for MEC Advisory and is Manager of Resources for MEC Mining and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (#112948). Mr O’Keefe has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which she is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person (CP). Mr O’Keefe consents to the inclusion in the release of the of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.
Heap Leach Process
Traditional processing of copper sulphide ore bodies utilises flotation to produce a saleable copper-rich sulphide concentrate. Cyprium’s management team has developed unique intellectual property relating to sulphide heap leach processing methodology, an atypical alternative method to economically extract copper from sulphide ores. Due to its reduced capital and operating cost profile, a heap leach approach can often unlock value in stranded projects and/or projects with problematic mineralogy, lack of scale, lower than average head grades and/or projects in challenging locations.
Other advantages of sulphide heap leach processing methodology include the minimisation of environmental impacts, production of a final LME Grade A cathode onsite, no further downstream processing and higher realised sales proceeds.
Sulphide Heap Leach Process
Conceptually, sulphide heap leach is a straightforward process that has many competitive advantages over the traditional onsite copper in concentrate production methods, including:
- Sulphide leaching is exothermic, generating its own heat to facilitate leaching of copper
- Air, ground water, acid and electricity are the primary inputs, together with a limited number of other reagents required in the process, which reduces production and maintenance costs
- Acid that leaches the copper is self-generated in the sulphide heaps, reducing operating costs
- Closed circuit process cycle with the raffinate solution, after the extraction of copper, being returned to the heap leach pads to resume the leaching copper into solution
- Reduced size for processing plant and no requirement for tailings dams to store waste materials from a concentrator, decreasing development costs and environmental impacts
- Transport costs are reduced due to less materials being shipped to and from the mine site
- No downstream treatment and refining charge deductions from sales revenue
- Government royalty rates levied on copper in concentrate being up to double than for cathode
The leached copper in solution is then processed by solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) to produce LME grade A cathode, which has a copper purity of more than 99.99%. All of the LME grade A copper cathode produced onsite is sold at a premium in liquid global markets whereas for concentrate, sales proceeds are normally based on 96.5% of the copper contained in the concentrate, downstream treatment and refining charges are also deducted along with penalty charges for other contaminates contained the concentrate.
Sulphide Heap Leach Process
Cyprium’s Leached Copper in Solution and Crushed Copper Sulphide Heap Leach Pad Ore
