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aving set new records in moving from discovery to
development in just two years, Sandfire Resources’
DeGrussa copper-gold project is poised to become
Western Australia’s largest copper mine when it
starts production in 2012.
Sandfire Resources’ Project Manager, Martin Reed, adopted a
somewhat unusual email signature earlier this year. Above his
name, title and contact numbers, it outlines key target dates for a
number of important items on the emerging copper-gold miner’s
agenda: “First truck of DSO by 1 March 2012”; “First truck of
underground ore on the ROM – 15 March 2012”; “First ore into
the SAG mill – 12 July 2012”.
For Mr Reed – a veteran of multiple project developments
– this email signature (which he says his team is free to copy)
encapsulates the extraordinarily driven and focused manner
in which Sandfire has gone about the business of bringing
one of Australia’s most exciting new mineral discoveries
into production.
It does not seem that long ago that Sandfire first burst to
national and international prominence with its stunning DeGrussa
copper-gold find, located 900 kilometres north of Perth in Western
Australia. The first sulphide mineralisation was intersected in
April 2009, and the main resource drill-out only started in earnest
in July that year.
“It has certainly been a whirlwind – but the main thing is
that we’ve always maintained our timetable and we have done
what we said we would do,” says Sandfire’s Managing Director,
Karl Simich. “It’s a pretty simple formula, but it works.”
The first JORC resource came in February 2010, followed
rapidly by successive upgrades in July and November, and then
a maiden Ore Reserve in March 2011. DeGrussa now has a total
Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource inventory
of 14.3 million tonnes grading 4.6% copper and 1.6 grams per
tonne (gpt) gold, containing an estimated 652,000 tonnes of
copper and 742,000 ounces of gold – making it one of the highest
grade copper deposits in the world.
In the course of last year, Sandfire completed well-timed capital
raisings of $67 million and $103 million, which underpinned
the completion of the resource drill-out (over 200,000 metres
of diamond drilling) and delivery of a pre-feasibility study
(March 2011) and a definitive feasibility study in June 2011.
Most importantly, the company still had sufficient cash left
over to kick-start the mining development, meaning that, by the
time the $360 million in debt funding for the project was being
finalised in September 2011, some $96 million had already been
expended on mine development and pre-construction activities.
It was not surprising that the large group of fund managers,
analysts, brokers and media who visited site the day before the
2011 Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie were duly
impressed. “It’s just a slick, well-run operation,” one analyst said.
“You get a very good feeling about the way Sandfire is doing things.
It gives you confidence they will deliver on their promises.”
KARL SIMICH
MANAGING DIRECTOR & CEO
SANDFIRE RESOURCES NL
ON THE PRIZE AT DEGRUSSA
H
FIRST BLAST AT DEGRUSSA OPEN PIT, APRIL 2011
MINESITE 2011
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