In a new presentation to investors Venture Minerals said that a pre-feasibility study on its Mt Lindsay tin-tungsten-magnetite project in northern Tasmania is due to be completed in the fourth quarter, after which the company will embark on the production of a bankable feasibility study to be completed in late 2011. Venture indicated that this timetable would allow a 2013 start-up of a mine which could produce some 2,800 tpy of tin-in-concentrate over a life of at least seven years.
A scoping study released in May showed that an operation mining one million tonnes of ore a year, with a capital expenditure of A$130 million, could generate an annual cashflow of A$80 million and an internal rate of return of 55%. The project has a JORC compliant inferred resource of 36 Mt at 0.2% tin and 0.09% WO3, but using a higher cut-off grade it has 7.1 Mt at 0.42% Sn and 0.29% WO3. The current scoping study was based on mining only the higher grade parts of the orebody.
