Mineral sands mining company Strandline Resources has completed its fifth shipment of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC), worth A$11.7-million, and is on track for another shipment in May.
The latest shipment of 10 550 t means the company has exported more than 46 000 t of HMC since starting commercial production at its Coburn mineral sands project in Western Australia on November 18 last year.
These shipments have generated total revenue of about A$48-million so far, with prices of the valuable minerals contained in the HMC shipments remaining strong.
During April, Strandline successfully transitioned to depositing sand tailings into a recently mined-out pit – Central Pit A. This is a key part of Coburn’s progressive mine backfill and rehabilitation process.
Meanwhile, the company’s wet concentration plant (WCP) continues to operate at near-nameplate levels in terms of ore throughput, heavy mineral recoveries and grade of HMC product for periods when two of the three dozer mining units are operating.
The company said that the key focus remains on increasing consistency at these nameplate levels through improving equipment and plant availability, enhancing mine planning and improving mineral recoveries to final product streams at the MSP.
“The ramp-up of Coburn continues to progress well, albeit having to navigate through greenfield commissioning issues. The WCP continues to demonstrate the ability to operate at nameplate ore throughput levels and we are starting to make solid gains in commissioning the downstream MSP,” Strandline MD Luke Graham said on Monday.