PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Develop has announced a 40% increase in the resource estimate for its Woodlawn copper/zinc mine, in New South Wales, paving the way for an increased mine life from the current seven years to more than ten years, based on a processing capacity of 850 000 t/y.

Develop on Wednesday told shareholders that following successful exploration at Woodlawn, the company had now increased the resource estimate at the project to 10.3-million tonnes, at 1.8% copper, 6.1% zinc, 2.2% lead, 47.2 g/t silver and 0.5 g/t gold.

The increase in the resource tonnage and grades has boosted the contained copper metal by 43% to 190 000 t, while contained zinc metal has improved by 50% to 620 000 t, for a combined 445 000 t copper equivalent resource.

“This is an outstanding result which demonstrates that Woodlawn is well on track to becoming a significant producer of the copper and zinc which will be in huge demand as part of the world’s energy transition,” said Develop MD Bill Beament.

He told shareholders that the increased mine life at Woodlawn would be a key feature in the new mine plan, which was set for release in the March quarter.

Beament said the outstanding results of Develop’s maiden drilling programme at Woodlawn, following its acquisition in mid-2022, meant the project now had genuine scale with significant scope for further growth.

“With 7.2-million tonnes of the increased resource now in the higher geological confidence category of measured and Iindicated, we are well on track to increasing the reserves, mine life and overall returns at Woodlawn,” he said.

“Our focus is now on completing the remaining infill drilling to drive further increases in resources, reserves and mine life.

“The organic growth since we acquired Woodlawn has been exceptional. We are adding resources at a cost of just A$5/t at what is one of Australia’s highest-grade copper/zinc mines. Importantly, the resource remains open along strike to the north and south and is completely untested down-plunge.”