Kanmantoo

The Kanmantoo Copper Mine is located in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia, an area which has recorded production of over 39,000 tonnes of copper metal, but remains one of the most under explored and prospective base metal provinces in Australia, showing outstanding potential for copper-gold and silver-lead-zinc mineralisation.
 

The project contains the old Kanmantoo Copper Mine pit, which was in operation from 1970 until 1976, but work by Hillgrove since 2004 has proved up an additional Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 32.2 million tonnes grading 0.9% copper (292,200 tonnes metal) and 0.2g/t gold (191,100onnces).  Exploration work continues in an effort to prove up additional resources in the pit area and beyond with a view to expanding the size and life of the project.
 

The project's location, 55 kilometres by road from Adelaide's CBD, brings significant inherent operating and capital cost advantages. The mine accesses low cost grid power and uses treated waste water from the nearby town of Mount Barker, and is three kilometres from the main dual carriageway South Eastern Freeway that leads to Adelaide and the export port of Port Adelaide. The mine's location in the Adelaide Hills - one of South Australia's most attractive settings - also helps to attract and retain a high quality workforce who predominantly live within the region.

The Government of South Australia stands behind the development of a vigorous mining industry and has implemented an exceptionally supportive regulatory environment. A Mining Lease was granted by Primary Industries and Resources SA (PIRSA) in 2009, with the associated Mining and Rehabilitation Plan (MARP) fully approved in April 2010. The Minerals and Energy Resources division transferred to the new Department of Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy (DMITRE) from January 2012. The project is located at http://minerals.pir.sa.gov.au/mines__and__developing_projects/approved_mines/kanmantoo.

The Kanmantoo Copper Mine is operated by Hillgrove, who provides management and technical control of the processing, with mining operations outsourced to the specialist contractor, Exact Mining Services.

 

With a large stock of local housing and schools and hospitals nearby, the project should enjoy very low staff turnover and is not burdened by the fly in/fly out and capital costs incurred by traditional remotely sited mines. Approximately 180 personnel, 90 of whom are contractors, staff the mine.  We had a huge response to our pre-production recruitment program in mid-2011 (with over 2,500 applications) and were able to provide many local residents with the opportunity to join us.  It is very gratifying for employees to reduce their travel time and be a part of such an exciting new venture within their region.

 

Ample water is available to operate the mine, with the majority of its process water coming from treated waste water from the District Council of Mt Barker's Laratinga Water Treatment Plant via a 15km pipeline that runs through to Callington that Hillgrove assisted building, providing environmental and other benefits through sustainable water resources management. The project will also use low cost grid sourced power with electricity supply arranged with Electranet.

 

The potential for further discoveries and growth of the global copper/gold resource at Kanmantoo is high. The deposit appears to remain open along strike and down dip where additional drilling could materially increase the resource inventory. The Project's regional exploration prospects range from grass roots to those with significant intercepts and resources, which it is hoped will also add additional resources. Further additions to the Mineral Resources at depth and along strike of the open pit, if converted to Ore Reserves, could result in expansion of the open pit, increases in the mining rate and extension of the mine life.