Rio Tinto Steps Up Study of Possible Underground Mining at Kennecott Copper -- Commodity Comment
July 22 2021 - 11:07AM
Dow Jones News
By Robb M. Stewart
Rio Tinto PLC is pushing ahead with studies that could see
underground mining at its Kennecott copper operation in Utah with a
$108 million investment that would allow early orebody access and
characterization studies.
Underground mining could happen at the same time as open-pit
operations at Kennecott, which would increase copper production,
the mining company said Thursday.
On underground mining plans:
Rio Tinto said it approved the investment in underground
development to enable early orebody access and undertake orebody
characterisation studies for underground mining at the Kennecott
copper operations, near Salt Lake City.
The investment builds on $25 million approved in early-2020 to
complete a pre-feasibility study to determine the viability of
underground mining operations at Kennecott.
Kennecott has declared mineral resources of 20 Mt at 3.65%
copper and 1.62 g/t gold with further upside potential based on
drilling, the company said.
"The feasibility study work will focus on gathering critical
geological, geotechnical and hydrogeological data to inform Rio
Tinto's assessment of underground development options and is
expected to be completed in 2024. Existing infrastructure from
previous underground projects will be extended to access the North
Rim Skarn orebody, allowing for the development of crosscuts and
further drilling of the resource. The project includes
approximately 15,000 feet of lateral development, 1,000 feet of
vertical development and associated support infrastructure," it
said.
The U.K.-Australian company said the project will also include
the trial of underground battery electric vehicles to reduce carbon
emissions at Kennecott.
Pre-feasibility studies are also being progressed to extend open
pit mining at Kennecott beyond 2032, with a further push back of
the North Wall to allow access to Mineral Resources, it said. This
follows a $1.5 billion investment in the second phase of the South
Wall Pushback project, approved in 2019, to allow open cut mining
to continue between 2026 and 2032.
In March, Rio Tinto said it was investing $2.9 million to set up
a new plant that would recover tellurium, a mineral used in solar
panels, from copper refining at Kennecott. Tellurium production is
expected to begin in the final quarter of the year, and the plant
will have the capacity to produce about 20 tons a year, it
said.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 22, 2021 10:59 ET (14:59 GMT)
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