CuFe Ltd and its partners, Tennant Minerals Ltd and Emmerson Resources Ltd, have advanced a strategic alliance based in the Tennant Creek area of the Barkly Region, within the Northern Territory.
The three companies formed the alliance in October 2024, working together to evaluate the viability of a multi-user facility for processing gold, copper, and critical minerals from company projects in the region.
Advancing toward pre-feasibility study
The alliance has outlined several objectives for its collaboration, including the completion of a scoping study, to be followed by a pre-feasibility study, assessing options for the multi-user facility in the Tennant Creek region.
The companies’ technical teams have been hard at work on several work streams, including:
- Resource updates for CUF’s Orlando and Gecko deposits.
- Mineralisation models for the TMS Bluebird and ERM Jasper Hills and Hermitage deposits.
- Option analysis for process plant location
- Underground and open pit optimisations, mine design and scheduling.
- Metallurgical test work review and modelling, process plant flow sheet design and sizing.
- Logistical network evaluation and optimisation.
- Operational and capital cost estimates.
- Consolidation of shared resources across the assets to reduce both operational and capital costs.
The alliance believes that the strength of gold and copper prices, as well as the improving prices for critical minerals including bismuth and cobalt offer strong support for the continued evaluation of a shared processing facility.
The three companies believe their collaboration could directly contribute to the restart of copper mining and processing in the region, with potential for immediate benefits to the alliance companies, the Barkly region and the Northern Territory in general.
That assertion was recently reinforced by a letter of support from the Mines Minister of the Northern Territory, indicating the government’s understanding of the project’s potential economic benefits for the region and Australia.