Caravel Minerals Completes Mining Study for Caravel Copper Project

Caravel Minerals (ASX: CVV) has completed the mining component of the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for its wholly owned Caravel copper project in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region.

The work supports an updated ore reserve of 597 million tonnes at 0.24% copper for 1.42Mt of contained copper, based on a 0.10% copper cut-off.

Caravel plans to develop the Bindi and Dasher deposits through a conventional open pit, truck-and-shovel operation, with mining beginning at Bindi before shifting to Dasher later in the mine life.

The DFS applies staged pit development to provide early access to higher-value ore, reduce upfront capital requirements and level the strip ratio to support a consistent processing feed.

Staged Development Plan

Mining will involve drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling using 300-tonne-class trucks and shovels with capacities exceeding 600t, supported by a full ancillary fleet.

Although the DFS was based on owner mining, Caravel intends to appoint a tier one contractor for pre-strip and early operations before transitioning to an owner-operated model, with commercial negotiations continuing.

Pre-strip is scheduled to start about 20 months before first ore reaches the primary crusher, providing ore exposure and construction material for key project infrastructure.

Material will predominantly feed directly to the crusher, while a run-of-mine stockpile with nominal capacity of about 1Mt at an average 0.24% copper grade will provide resilience during temporary disruptions.

Reserve Guides Mine Design

The ore reserve comprises 506Mt at 0.23% copper for 1.18Mt of contained copper at Bindi and 91Mt at 0.26% copper for 237,000t of contained copper at Dasher.

It sits within the Caravel copper project mineral resource of 1.28 billion tonnes at 0.24% copper for 3.03Mt of contained copper, with mineral resources reported inclusive of ore reserves.

Mine design parameters include a 12.5m bench height, 4% mining dilution, 3% ore loss, and a minimum mining width of 100m to accommodate the selected ultra-class fleet safely.

Pit slopes follow recommendations from geotechnical consultants Dempers & Seymour, which defined eight geotechnical domains for the Bindi pit using a Mining Rock Mass Model and supporting analyses.

Inferred mineral resources are excluded from the ore reserve and reserve pit designs, although the DFS life-of-mine schedule draws on Inferred material during later years.

Autonomous Haulage Option

Caravel plans to begin operations with conventional manned haulage while retaining a mine layout, infrastructure platform and systems capable of supporting autonomous haulage.

The company intends to accelerate the transition to autonomy once it has finalised its equipment supplier and selected an autonomous technology solution.

Fleet selection followed detailed engagement with equipment suppliers and production modelling, but final equipment configuration remains subject to commercial negotiations.

The staged plan and fleet strategy are intended to preserve operating flexibility while supporting safety, productivity, grade management, and cost control across the project.