The Rasp Mine is located centrally within the City of Broken Hill and the leases occupy the central region of the historic Broken Hill Line of Lode orebody and incorporate the original mine areas that commenced operations in the 1880s and still contains substantial tonnages of un-mined zinc-lead-silver mineralisation.
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| Rasp Mine |
The mining activities will focus on the underground development and mining of the un-mined Western Mineralisation and Centenary Mineralisation and the high grade pillars that were left unmined from the Main Lode Orebody. The Mineral Resource as at 1 July 2009 is:
| |
Category |
'000 t |
Zn% |
Pb% |
Ag g/t |
Main Lode Pillars
|
Indicated
Inferred
|
1,294
2,317 |
10.0
12.2 |
9.6
11.1
|
243
251 |
Western Mineralisation
|
Indicated
Inferred |
5,400
4,500 |
5.2
4.5 |
3.9
3.0
|
47
37 |
Centenary Mineralisation
|
Inferred |
2,700 |
6.1 |
3.9 |
49 |
Zinc Lode
|
Indicated
Inferred |
151
141 |
11.6
9.4 |
6.6
5.1 |
73
76 |
| Total Mineral Resource |
Indicated
Inferred
Total |
6,845
9,658
16,503 |
6.2
6.9
6.6 |
5.0
5.2
5.1 |
85
92
89 |
The Ore Reserve as at 1 July 2009 is:
| |
Category |
'000 t |
Zn% |
Pb% |
Ag g/t |
Western Mineralisation
|
Probable |
2,650 |
5.5 |
4.1 |
46 |
| Zinc Lode |
Probable |
175 |
7.8 |
4.2 |
48 |
Main Lode Remnants
|
Probable |
344 |
8.9 |
8.7 |
207 |
| Total Mineral Resource |
Probable |
3,170 |
6.0 |
4.6 |
64 |
The underground development activities were suspended in June 2008 with the significant fall in commodity prices and subsequent global financial crisis. CBH Resources has now developed a staged approach to the development of Rasp Mine as outlined:
CBH Resources Pty Ltd received approval from the NSW Department of Planning in late January to develop the Rasp Mine. In addition the project was officially approved by the Toho Board in the middle of February and development of the mine has now become a company priority.
CBH Resources have engaged an engineering firm, GR Engineering Services, for the engineering design, procurement and construction of the processing plant. Construction is scheduled to commence in March 2011. The construction period will take twelve months with plant commissioning scheduled for end of quarter 1, 2012. Full scale operations will be in place by the middle of 2012. Underground mine development is scheduled to commence in April 2011. The operating workforce will be approximately 160 people whilst 80 to 100 people will be employed during the construction phase.
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