Mineral hill

KBL Mining Limited's Mineral Hill Project actually covers an area of 49 square kilometres. It is located in Central NSW, in the Cobar Basin, 50 kilometres from Condobolin. The project includes the state of the art Mineral Hill copper mine and ore processing mill. Recent successful exploration results have seen it include the mining and processing silver dore, gold and zinc as well as lead and zinc concentrates.

KBL Mining Pulls Mineral Hill out of Care and Maintenance
In August 2010 KBL Mining decided to take the Mineral Hill mine out of care and maintenance and upgrade and refurbish it in readiness for production along with the underground mine at Parkers Hill and the development of an open cut mine at the Pearce gold/silver deposit. To achieve this they called back the team of contractors and local labour who had previous experience operating the mine before it was closed in 2005.

Low Grades and low Prices Contribute to Mineral Hill Closure in 2005
Mining at Mineral Hill goes back to the late nineteenth century but it was not until 1987 before modern methods of mining were introduced into the area. However, low gold and copper prices forced the mine to close in 2005 along with low grades coming from the underground operation, as well as difficulties keeping a regular supply of ore up the the processing plant. At this time the mine was being operated by Triako Resources Limited.

Refurbishment and Upgrading Lifts Mineral Hill Production Capacity
During the upgrading and refurbishment program, processing plant was either installed or modernised that resulted in the current capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year being achieved. This work was completed in mid 2011 and full production was reached in the September quarter of 2011.

While work was being undertaken on the upgrading and refurbishment of the processing plant at the Mineral Hill Mine, KBL Mining also decided to continue with the rehabilitation of the Parkers Hill underground mine. Underground access to the Parkers Hill mine was already developed on three levels and bringing this mine into production again would also supplement the amount of ore going into the Mineral Hill processing plant, while waiting for the Pearce, gold silver mine to come online.

Pybar Contracted to Carry out Work at Parkers Hill
In December 2010, KBL Mining contracted Pybar contracting company to carry out work connected with the rehabilitation of the Parkers Hill Project as well as re-installing ventilation and power etc along with de-watering and general ground support. The mining of high grade ore commenced in June 2011.

Exploration Expands Mineral Resources at Mineral Hill
During 2011 KBL Mining prioritised its mineralisation targets to extend its reserves beyond that of the Parkers Hill and Pearce deposits. In September that year the company announced a new resource of high grade ore in the Eastern-Southern Ore Zone. This zone is adjacent to the access decline that leads to the Southern zone from the Eastern zone. This find has the potential to substantially increase copper and gold production levels. The de-watering of the access to the Southern Ore Zone will also allow mining to take place in that zone during 2013 around the same time the Pearce open pit will be coming on-line.
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