- 01Phase 1 restart at Nifty; acid heap leach underway.
- 0298 wells; 1.7 Mt ore ready for leach.
- 03Cathode expansion to ~20,000 tpa via more leach ore.
Cyprium Metals (ASX: CYM) has confirmed that a Phase 1 restart of the Nifty Copper Complex in the Paterson region of Western Australia is advancing to plan, with commissioning of existing heap leach pads with acid solution currently underway.
This will be the first time in 20 years that acid solution has been introduced to the solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) plant and, following completion, the company hopes to quickly ramp-up leaching operations to support the start of cathode production.
A previous 14-well trial of direct injection technology utilised water without the addition of acid to test the hydrostatic properties of the heaps, confirming well design, demonstrating the ability for existing heaps to accept injected solution at commercial flow rates beyond 250 cubic metres per hour and producing copper outflows in sufficient grade and quantity to commission the plant.
Cyprium has since expanded the Nifty wellfield to 98 production wells, providing access to 1.7 million tonnes of material for future leaching operations, with additional wells to be installed as required to support production plans.
Commissioning of sulphuric acid transportation infrastructure and the eastern intermediate liquor solution and pregnant liquor solution ponds was completed prior to heap commissioning.
Mechanical Refurbishment
Cyprium confirmed refurbishment works for the SX part of the plant had almost reached mechanical completion, and that wet and dry commissioning had commenced.
The company has installed piping to all primary settling tanks and completed fibreglass repairs of settling, primary, and secondary mixing tanks.
Pumps and pipework were installed across all tanks prior to static hydrotesting, and a compressor has been installed at the plant.
The EW section is also mostly complete, with the remaining scope including installation of cell top furniture, completion of stripping machine refurbishment, loading of cathodes and anodes, and final completion of electrical and instrumentation work.
Failure of existing high-voltage components during testing required the procurement of replacement parts, with Cyprium employing auxillary power to maintain the pre-commissioning schedule.
First Major Growth Step
A planned expansion of the SX-EW plant’s 6,000 tonnes per annum cathode production capacity to approximately 20,000tpa is likely to be the first major growth step for Cyprium beyond the Phase 1 project.
Key enablers will be the company’s ability to generate more copper in leach by increasing the mining rate of the existing heap leach pads, along with accessing additional shallow oxide material from the Nifty open pit and existing stockpiles.
Exploration drilling and data analysis continues in parallel to this work, and heritage clearing of areas for future drilling has been conducted at the Rainbow and Rainbow South prospects, 30 kilometres to the north-northwest of Nifty.
Cyprium is also working to interpret legacy data and new geological information from Geoscience Australia and CSIRO in order to increase confidence and inform future exploration activities.
The company has initiated a program to clean and order all legacy data for the Nifty Copper Complex, the state agreement area, and adjacent tenements, and has evaluated the use of AI tools to assist the geology team.
‘High-Energy Mood’
Cyprium executive chair Matt Fifield said Phase 1 had created a “high energy mood” onsite and throughout the company.
“Taking a project from concept to reality is special and there have been many people who have contributed to creating this success,” he said.
“I am particularly proud of our team, our partners, and our first-rate specialists who have worked tirelessly on refurbishing this brownfield site with a high degree of problem solving and collaboration.
“Phase 1 cathode production restart is the first step in building Australia’s next great copper company—I look forward to providing updates on our leaching operations and the close out of plant construction and commissioning activities.”
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