MMG today announced that Mineral Resources for its five mines have increased across all metals, including a 2.6 million tonne increase for copper and 1.4 million tonnes for zinc net of milled depletion. The substantial gains, detailed in MMG’s newly released 2024 Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (MROR) statement, underscore the Company’s commitment to exploration and provide a robust basis for sustaining mine operations.
“It’s an exciting achievement and represents our best organic result for Mineral Resources since MMG was established in 2009. This success is thanks to a multi-year commitment to exploration drilling and extending the life of MMG’s mineral deposit assets. Moving forward, we will continue to explore the full potential of our assets and leverage drilling data to drive growth,” said Cao Liang MMG’s CEO.
Compared to the 2023 estimates, MMG’s Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (as of 30 June 2024) changed as follows:
- Mineral Resources (contained metal) increased for copper (17%), zinc (14%), lead (10%), molybdenum (62%), cobalt (10%), silver (11%) and gold (5%).
- Ore Reserves (contained metal) increased for zinc (10%), lead (10%) and cobalt (19%) but decreased for copper (-4%), silver (-2%), gold (-12%) and molybdenum (-5%).
These results show Mineral Resource replenishment has outpaced milled depletion for all metals across all sites since last year’s report was released. Key 2024 highlights include:
Las Bambas success: after a targeted exploration drilling program over the last four years, Ferrobamba Deeps has reported maiden Mineral Resources including 2.5 million tonnes of copper, 130,000 tonnes of molybdenum, 31 million ounces of silver and 370,000 ounces of gold. This is an excellent outcome and the biggest contributor to MMG’s significant Mineral Resource gains in 2024. The result is equivalent to approximately 23 per cent of the total pre-mining Las Bambas Mineral Resources at time of acquisition by MMG.
Khoemacau substantial additions since acquisition: drilling at Zone 5 and remodelling the Banana Zone, Zeta and Zone 6 deposits added 700,000 tonnes of copper and 30 million ounces of silver since acquisition in March 2024. These are additional to those reported in the Competent Persons Report (24 May 2024).
Dugald River extension: successful exploration drilling extended the Dugald lode, adding 1.2 million tonnes of zinc (net of depletion) to the Mineral Resources.
Rosebery mine life extension: Ore Reserves increases, including a 47 per cent increase in Ore Reserve tonnes and over a 30 per cent increase in zinc, lead, silver, gold and copper, have extended mine life to 2030. This was facilitated by plans for additional tailings storage facilities, providing greater certainty for its future operations.
Read MMG’s 2024 MROR statement in full here.
Media enquiries
Felicity Watson
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felicity.watson@mmg.com
Notes
Mineral Resources can be defined as the concentration of material of economic interest in or on the earth’s crust where a Competent Person can demonstrate there are Reasonable Prospects of Eventual Economic Extraction, whereas Ore Reserves are the parts of a Measured and/or Indicated Mineral Resource that have been the subject of a Pre-feasibility Study or Feasibility Study. MMG reports estimates of its Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves on an annual basis, but new and material discoveries of Mineral Resources may be estimated and reported at any time.
MMG’s estimates of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves are undertaken by a team of highly skilled technical personnel including geologists, mining engineers and metallurgists that qualify as ‘Competent Persons’ under the Joint Ore Reserves Committee Code (JORC) of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia.