Admiral bay

The Admiral Bay Project, that is located 40 kilometres east of Nita Downs, off the Great Northern Highway, in the Canning Basin, which is part of the Kimberley region of Western Australia, is one of the largest undeveloped zinc deposits in the world, with a Resource Estimate of 72 million tonnes of ore containing 6.7 percent zinc.

The Admiral Bay base metal deposit was discovered in 1981 during an exploration program searching for oil. The deposit was drilled and assessed by CRA Exploration between 1986 and 1992 and again by Kagara Limited between 2004 and 2009.

Admiral Bay Project Being Developed by Metalicity

The Admiral Bay deposit is being developed by Metalicity, a growing base metal discovery and development company based in Perth, that acquires projects rich in nickel, copper and zinc mineralisation. The Admiral Bay Project consists of two mining licences that extends along 25 kilometres of underground mineralisation.

SRK Consulting to Complete Admiral Bay Scoping Study

SRK Consulting Pty Ltd have been engaged to complete a Scoping Study outlining the most economic and sound way to develop the Admiral Bay underground mine that will be required to access the ore body that exists at level 1300. Mining methods proposed to date have focused on room and pillar technology including some form of open stoping, with fill.

Mintrex Pty Ltd to Report on Admiral Bay Infrastructure Options

Mintrex Pty Ltd have been awarded the job of studying infrastructure needs as the project location is fortunate to have much existing infrastructure available within the project area, which has the potential to substantially reduce start up and ongoing running costs. Existing infrastructure includes deep sea ports, transport from mine to port and power supply. Power availability that has been identified to date include gas, LNG, geothermal and tidal. Any one of which could serve as a potential power source. The project could also benefit greatly from the recent reduction in oil prices.

The best port options are also being assessed as to the best available port to export the Admiral Bay product from, as the choice of port includes; Derby, Broome or Port Hedland. Port Hedland looks to be the most realistic option at the present time, as it is one of the largest bulk exports ports in the world, because of this, it is already well equipped to handle all the extra product supply that would be created once the Admiral Bay mine is up and running.

Metallurgical studies have reported the Admiral Bay ore produces a coarse grind and high quality lead and zinc concentrate with high recoveries such as 96 percent zinc and 98 percent lead. The concentrate produced from the Admiral Bay project has been compared to the lead and zinc concentrate produced at the MMG Century mine in Queensland, as testwork has shown it produces an indicative 70 percent lead concentrate grade and an indicative 55 percent zinc concentrate grade containing very low levels of impurities.