AIC Mines Ltd (ASX:A1M, OTC:IAUFF) has delivered on promises made 12 months ago as it establishes solid foundations to build a mid-tier, multi-mine Australian copper mining company producing 100,000-150,000 tonnes per annum with gold to boot.
The flagship project and primary focus is the high-grade Eloise underground copper-gold mine, 60 kilometres southeast of Cloncurry in the state’s resource-rich northwest, which AIC says it has transformed into “a great little project”.
In a presentation at the Brisbane Mining Investor Conference today, managing director Aaron Colleran spoke of how the company had delivered on the promises he had made at the conference 12 months earlier.
Colleran outlined the company’s copper-focused strategy and future plans, saying AIC “is one of the few copper mining companies listed on the ASX – with a growth asset, a strong balance sheet and an energised management team”.
Successful time for AIC
He said the company believed it could deliver its growth plans through exploration, development and acquisition – “so we are building our capacity and capability in each of these three key areas”.
Despite “massive routs” in lithium and nickel, the MD described the last 12 months as very successful for AIC and said the company “is in the best position that it has ever been in”.
At Eloise, Colleran said the company had transformed the project “from a hand-to-mouth operation that was expected to close in 2023 – to a great little project that is producing free cashflow, has a 3-year reserve life, an 8-year resource life and, importantly, a big future ahead of it as we develop the nearby Jericho deposit and expand the Eloise processing facility”.
Eloise transformed
Since acquiring the project in late 2021, AIC has increased resources by 86,200 tonnes, or 132%, and reserves by 34,400 tonnes, or 114%, and discovered the Lens 6 deposit in September 2022, which it is still pursuing up dip as it seeks to grow the resource of 1.1 million tonnes grading 3.1% copper and 0.8 g/t gold.
The success at Lens 6 alone means that last year AIC had discovered more copper than it mined and at a higher grade.
AIC has also added the Jericho deposit and 2,000 square kilometres of exploration tenements immediately surrounding Eloise. “We now effectively own the whole field and 14 kilometres of strike,” Colleran said.
The Eloise operation has also been recapitalised with operational reliability improved. A new tailings dam was completed in May last year at a cost of $15 million and recapitalisation of the mining fleet is almost complete.
The only remaining equipment replacement required now is another underground loader, which will be procured later this year.
“In much better position”
Colleran said: “Eloise is in a much better position today than it was when I presented 12 months ago. We were promising a turnaround in our production performance, based on access to the Macy deposit and improved mining fleet reliability. We’ve delivered on these promises.
“We’ve recapitalised the mining fleet – the trucking issues that we were having this time last year are now behind us. Also, we now have additional ore sources in the Upper Levels of the mine – we are mining Macy North and Elrose-Levuka North. And we’ve discovered a new high-grade deposit – Lens 6 – which we are also now mining.”
AIC has achieved two strong quarters in a row – the September quarter of 2023 was the company’s best quarter ever with that record then broken in the December quarter.
The production target for this financial year is 12,500 tonnes of copper in concentrate at an All In Sustaining Cost of US$3.25 per pound and at the halfway mark the company was well ahead of target.
Jericho “a game changer”
The MD said that Jericho, which was acquired early last year, would be a “game changer for Eloise” with similar geology, mineralisation and metallurgy. It provided a clear pathway to expanding annual Eloise production to +20,000 tonnes of copper and +10,000 ounces of gold in concentrate.
Mining at Jericho will be lower cost than Eloise as it is much shallower, commencing below only 50 metres of cover while Colleran said that an expansion of the Eloise processing plant would reduce operating costs through economies of scale and smarter equipment.
Twelve months ago, the Jericho resource contained 180,000 tonnes of copper but following a 17,000-metre drilling program, this has grown to 14.1 million tonnes grading 2.0% copper and 0.4 g/t gold – a 59% increase in contained copper and 60% in contained gold.
Colleran told conference delegates that development of Jericho promised to transform Eloise into a true cornerstone asset for AIC Mines and that it would be developed sequentially with mining ramping up over roughly 36 months.
Exploration continues
Exploration is also continuing as Jericho deposit remains open along strike and at depth with a focus on the Swagman lens midway between Eloise and Jericho, which has potential to be a new mining centre. More drilling is planned for Jericho this year, at Swagman, Jericho South and depth extensions to the high-grade Matilda and Jumbuck shoots.
Regionally, AIC will also be assessing targets generated by geophysics, to the north, south, east and west of Eloise and the company believes it will find many more satellite deposits in the region.
AIC is also continuing to look for logical, opportunistic, value-accretive acquisitions, like the acquisition of Eloise in November 2021 and Jericho in January 2023, and the focus is on late-stage Australian copper and gold projects.
Copper “the right place to be”
“The more we look around Australia the more we like the Mt Isa-Cloncurry region. It’s a great place to be,” said Colleran, also stating:
- The copper is there;
- The prospectivity is there;
- There is excellent infrastructure in the region;
- There is a long history of mining in the region; and
- There is a deep, experienced and skilled local labour force.
He concluded: “Copper is the right place to be. Copper demand is ready to explode with no sizable near-term supply-side response. The copper price can only go up from here.”