Red River Resources reports work is under way on renovating the 600,000-mt/y-capacity Thalanga zinc mill,
which has been inactive since 2012. (Photo: Red River Resources)

The Thalanga processing plant can produce copper, lead, and zinc concentrates. Nominal throughput capacity is 600,000 metric tons per year (mt/y).

Red River released a “Restart Study” assessing the potential restart of the Thalanga project in November 2015. The project has a low preproduction capital cost of A$17.2 million, a low operating cost, and a six-month timeline to production. Annual average production is estimated at 21,400 mt of zinc, 3,600 mt of copper, 5,000 mt of lead, 2,000 oz of gold, and 370,000 oz of silver in concentrates over an initial mine life of five years, with potential to extend the mine life.

Red River Managing Director Mel Palancian said, “We are pleased to have commenced work on the refurbishment of the Thalanga processing plant, using funds raised in the recent highly oversubscribed A$8.9 million fundraising. This work forms an important step towards the full restart of the Thalanga zinc project and will enable us to further tighten the budget and timeline for the remaining restart work at the Thalanga plant.”

The Thalanga Restart Study assumes that Red River will sequentially mine the project’s West 45, Far West and Waterloo deposits. The planned mine designs and schedules are based on industry-standard mechanized underground mining techniques. Life-of-mine total cash costs per lb of payable zinc produced, net of by-product credits, are estimated at U.S.$0.73. Red River continues aggressive exploration across the Thalanga zinc project.