Nifty copper mine turnaround underway
Hudbay to take part of Doubleview's Hat
M&A
SPONSOREDsolgold
Nifty produced 8,853 tonnes of copper in the first half of the year, behind where the company expected.
Metals X was around 4-6 weeks behind where it expected to be at the end of June, but the completion of the replacement of 4.4km of conveyer for the underground crusher was completed during the quarter, paving the way for a step change in production.
Hudbay to take part of Doubleview's Hat
M&A
SPONSOREDsolgold
Metals X managing director Warren Hallam told the Noosa Mining and Exploration Conference the company would double production from Nifty in the next six months.
Cashflow for the 2019 calendar year is forecast to be A$70-100 million.
"We'll be in harvest mode in six months," Hallam said.
The company will also drill for extensions to the Nifty orebody over 400m to the east.
"There's nothing that seems to cut off this orebody at this point in time," Hallam said.
Metals X is also excited by the regional potential of Nifty, with the ground being largely unexplored for many years.
Hallam noted that Nifty sat in current WA hotspot, the Paterson province, and was around 50km south of a rumoured major copper discovery by Rio Tinto.
"[The Paterson province is] getting fairly hot at the moment," he said.
The company has also commissioned an ore-sorter at the Renison tin mine and is working on the development of the Wingellina project, Australia's largest undeveloped nickel-cobalt resource.
"It's going to be a 60 to 70-year project," Hallam said.
"It just needs a lot of capital."
Metals is restarting discussions with potential project partners.