Red River Resources achieves record zinc, copper and lead production from Thalanga
During the March quarter, Red River Resources boosted copper concentrate production by 134%, zinc output by 16% and lead by 25% from Thalanga.
Red River Resources (ASX: RVR) has achieved record zinc, copper and lead production from its Thalanga project in Queensland’s north.
During the March quarter, zinc concentrate production reached 8,952 tonnes – up 16% on the December quarter.
Lead concentrate output rose 25% to 3,763t on the December quarter, while copper concentrate production rocketed 134% to 1,694t during the same period.
In the year-to-date, Red River has mined 292,000t of ore from Thalanga to produce 23,447t of zinc, 9,517t of lead and 2,836t of copper.
Far West deposit
The March quarter also heralded the that start of operations at the Far West deposit, where 9,000t of ore was extracted during the period.
According to the company, preliminary output at Far West had resulted in “outstanding metallurgical recoveries”.
Late last month Red River reported 84.4% copper recovery resulting in a 26% copper concentrate, while lead recovery was 79.9% to generate 70.1% lead concentrate.
Meanwhile, zinc recovery of 89.2% produced a 59.3% zinc concentrate.
Red River anticipates production ore will begin in the September quarter of this year, with mining at the current West 45 deposit to extend into the latter half of the year before winding up.
Far West has an ore reserve of 1.5Mt at 12% zinc equivalent, which is expected to underpin a seven-year mine life producing 300,000tpa.
The deposit remains open at depth and along strike.
In addition to Far West and West 45, Thalanga hosts Orient, Far East, Thalanga Deeps and Thalanga range.
Red River also owns several nearby projects including Liontown, Waterloo, Highway-Reward, Trooper Creek and Ermine.
Across Thalanga, Red River’s ore reserves total 2.1Mt at 11.9% zinc equivalent.
Thalanga revenue
During the December quarter 2018, Thalanga generated $18.2 million in revenue, resulting in earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation of $1.7 million.
However, net cash outflows from operating activities was $5.4 million – arising primarily from production costs as well as development and exploration activities.
This morning’s news of record production from Thalanga sent Red River’s share price up almost 6% to $0.18 early afternoon.