Geology, Mining and Processing The CSA Mine underground operation is based around the QTS North copper orebody, which extends from 600m to over 1.8km below the surface.
The ore deposits occur in a sedimentary formation which was formed millions of years ago when mineral rock fluids entered faults and fractures in the rock. As a result, orebodies were formed with economic concentrations of base metal.
Mining and Processing
1. Underground tunnels are developed to gain access to the ore. Each year approximately four kilometres of tunnels are developed to support the production of 150,000 tonnes of copper concentrate from 870,000 tonnes of copper ore.
2. Small open stopes, 30m high and 15m wide, are created so that copper ore can be extracted by drilling and blasting. Almost 70km of blast holes are drilled each year. Once blasted, the ore is loaded onto large trucks and transported to the underground ore stockpile. Mined out stopes are filled with material sourced from mill tailings and underground waste rock.
Diagrams of underground Workings
3. A large vertical shaft allows the copper ore to be hoisted from the underground stockpile to the surface before being moved via a series of conveyors to the ore storage bins.
4. From the storage bins, ore is fed into mills, where large balls grind the ore into a slurry.
5. The slurry passes through a flotation process, where chemicals are added to attach themselves to the copper mineral. Rising air bubbles capture the coated mineral particles and float them to the surface where they are skimmed off and dried on disc filters.
6. The dried concentrate is stockpiled in the concentrate shed where it is loaded by front-end loaders into product train wagons for transport to Port Waratah in Newcastle.
7. Concentrate is shipped to markets in China, India and South East Asia.
CMPL is engaged in active exploration of the existing mine and surrounding tenements in order to expand its business at CSA Mine and beyond.
