Tailings Dams

[Bottle Rocket - Liam]

The pipeline runs from Port Headland
https://www.epa.wa.gov.au/proposals/tel ... ng-project

@shinybits - I have sent you an email (used to sign up to this website)

[Bamps21]

The Stockhead article relates to the generalised MRE quantities that incorporate 3 zones
The sulphides in the SE crescent
The Link zone only a few drills have gone through it.
The Breccia a new combined zone of the Northern and Eastern breccia, the Eastern breccia is too deep for estimates to give an indicated resource, hence the 68m inferred.

The SE crescent is the starter mine it has a grade of 3g/t au or 3.6g/t eq
That’s at 3mt per year this included attached breccia.
The PFS was 2mt per and was at 3.6g/t + cu as it only took in the sulphides and excluded the breccia.

Calling me a frenzied optimist is a bit strong, as I am a pragmatic realist.
I have been stating for some years now that trucking 3m tons to Telfer per year is a tall order but just about doable with a crusher at Havieron.
As tonnages increase this looks unviable even Newcrest gave a range of transport items in the PFS other than trucking.
Therefore building a plant at sometime in the future looks more economic.
However initially Telfer and Havieron are linked due to the infrastructure already in place and the tailings that are required for the paste filling.

When you consider the Eastern Breccia had a drill intercept of 342m @2g/t + cu on its first drill, a bulk mine will be feasible and Rick Rule commented that is a Tier 1 on its own. It’s grown since then but still to deep to infill drill to gain a reserve estimate. This will need another form of transport to Telfer or a plant at Havieron.
Never rule anything out.

[Rotherby]

The pipeline serves Nifty and Telfer, from this the ownership is split, approx. 20% to APA, this I think means it can be extended.

https://www.apa.com.au/our-services/gas ... -pipeline/

[Maximus’s dad]

Yes plenty of options and mixtures of options available,I don’t think that building a standalone plant if necessary at Havieron at some time in the future is as onerous either financially or logistically as can be sometimes suggested.

[Rotherby]

Dad, I agree with that.

I included it as a method among many of putting us (PI's) into a similar position of any possible bidder for Havieron, they as will GGP have to look at it from all possible events and out comes.

The great known unknows are
Can Telfer make a profit on its own, with more concentrated management, that do not see it as an end of life facility.
The clean up costs for Telfer
Can anything stop Havieron becoming an operating mine, well reduced but still a risk item.

There must be also some unknown unknows, which any management would put in a contingence in establishing the values of the Newmont disposals.

[droverman]

Telfer is not the problem as long as POG remains above 2150 usd oz and will make huge profits at > 2500 usd oz. Telfer has many small deposits in its location at around 1,000,000 oz in each deposit. As mentioned before there is a huge cobalt deposit as well.
As Bamps says, the problem is getting more than 3 million tones of feed from Havieron to Telfer when they extend the present mining plan. The only way is to build a conveyor system with a pulverisation plant at Havieron. Building a conveyor is not a problem, in Morocco they have systems over 100 Km long and look at SXX plant in Yorkshire an underground conveyor system over 50 km in length. In PNG they put the ore down a pipe from top of a mountain to the dock over 50 km away so engineering and designing is not a problem.
If we go to bulk mining we need a plant which can take at least 10 million tons a year and Telfer has that capacity and more if other ore deposits are found. Why pay for a new plant at Havieron unless we find Havieron 11, 111, 1V etc in Scallywag or JVs. DM

[Maximus’s dad]

I’m sure the talk of a processing plant at Havieron is as much about an element of negotiating as anything else. Newmont will stress Telfer’s benefits and GGP will say yes that’s true but there’s also pros to building a new plant closer, just to emphasis that their hands aren’t tied to purchasing Telfer.
Good to have options as SD says.

[Bamps21]

Still looks very wet

[Shinybits]

Word around the campfire suggests that Telfer has again shut down its mills due to having discovered another hole in the tailings dam, in a different area to that discovered on Dec 24th last year. Not good, Let’s hope it’s not as significant as the previous one, I assume there will be a prohibition notice from DMIRS and it will take a while to get that lifted if last time was anything to go by.

[Rotherby]

Had this from Ben this morning

[Shinybits]

Seems odd to blame ‘heavy weather’… it hasn’t rained for a month.

Nevertheless that’s the least of their problems in the last couple of days….

[speedymeadie]

Hi Shinybits. Can you please elaborate on "their problems in the last couple of days" ATB Speedy

[jecsggp]

Perhaps the sale/buy price needs to be dropped a bit ... .

[Shinybits]

Hi Shinybits. Can you please elaborate on "their problems in the last couple of days" ATB Speedy

Another hole in the tails dam the following day, a crack in dam wall weeping slurry….

…and a fire in the power station.

Somebody has irritated the Gods.

[FuttBucker]

Sabotage by "the shorts"?

[Shinybits]

Better news than expected… power hopefully back on within 24 hours (need to replenish fire suppressant gas cylinders first, on its way from prob Perth I guess), and with tails dam situation, hopefully get a train back up and running within a month.

Not ideal but I’d expected heaps worse on both counts to be honest.

Fingers crossed

[speedymeadie]

Hi Shiny. Thanks for the response. ATB Speedy

[Shinybits]

Telfer’s projected (wish list?) restart date for both trains has been moved from 1st Sept to 1st Oct.

They have permission from DEMIRS (31 May) to not only carry out the repairs on TSF8, but they have preliminary permission to work towards the TSF8 uplift to increase its capacity. I believe this is earlier than they anticipated receiving this permission.

There’s some very high tech monitoring equipment at TSF7 (TSF7 will never be used again) and after previously observing movement of 1mm a day near the vulnerable section of the wall, it has now not moved for over a week.

Big money and effort is being spent on repairs to the plant (eg full rewire of stacker 2, replacement of cyclone distributor underflow housing train 1, etc) and the price of gold remains healthy, so an optimist has plenty to put a smile on his or her face over there.

[jecsggp]

Thanks for the info, Shiny - much appreciated.

[Shinybits]

Newmont has permission from DEMIRS to go full steam ahead with the TSF8 stage 2 uplift. The repairs required to start the plant again are aiming for mid September, and the stage 2 uplift by January. This is all going very well and bodes well for the future.

There is a phenomenal amount of works being undertaken in the plant whilst the opportunity presents, items that just can’t be done within the timeframes of a normal maintenance shutdown - whereby things are patched just enough to last until the next shut.

Such things as a full refloor of the tails thickener, full rebuild of copper thickener, full rebuild of apron feeders under crushers, full rewire of stacker 2 (maybe also stacker 1), major tank repairs, full replacement of corroded structure in goldroom, the list goes on.

It is expected to be ready to start commissioning by the start of September, with a view to a full restart of both trains by October 1st.

Exciting times for Telfer, encouraging drill results from UG mine, and by the time it restarts the whole plant will be in better nick than it has been for ten years or more.

With the millions being spent, it could be a bargain for a new owner….