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Approximate location of the Oropesa tin project, owned by Elementos
Elementos is an Australian, ASX-listed metals company with a portfolio of tin development projects including Oropesa in Spain, and Cleveland in Tasmania. The company is actively developing each of these projects with Oropesa being the priority following its acquisition in 2018. The company believes that having a portfolio of tin projects in established mining jurisdictions is a lower risk strategy to deliver value for its shareholders.
The Oropesa Tin Project
The Oropesa tin deposit is located in north-west Andalusia, 180 km northeast of Seville in southern Spain. Elementos acquired the project in 2019 and after an extensive drilling programme conducted in 2020 & 2021, and updated Mineral Resource Estimate was released to the market. This showed significant improvement to the previous estimate, both in absolute tonnage and geological confidence terms. Overall tonnage increased to 18.86 million tonnes, 50% higher than before. Measured and Indicated Resource categories now contain some 16.21 Mt of ore (some 86% of the total Resource), a 78% improvement. Within this, the Measured Mineral Resource increased by 1,200%, from 0.33 Mt to 4.30 Mt. Shallow Resources (<100m from surface) also increased by 263% from 1.63 Mt to 4.97 Mt, reducing the strip ratio from 11.7x to 8.8x.
The Measured and Indicated category now contains some 63,900 tonnes, up some 26% from the previous estimate (50,800 tonnes). Overall, the project now contains an estimated 75,440 tonnes of tin, an increase of 7,920 tonnes (12%). Following the completion of the Mineral Resource update the company revised its Scoping Study and completed an Optimisation study which increases the throughput of the project from 750ktpa to 1.25Mtpa. Using a processing plant with a 74% tin recovery rate this study resulted in Oropesa producing 5,400 tonnes of ~62% tin concentrate annually, the equivalent of 3,500 tonnes of tin.
This optimisation study set the basis of design for the company’s Definitve Feasibility Study (DFS) and the regulatory submissions to the government. The company submitted its Environmental Impact Assessment, Rehabilitation Plan and Mining Licence Application to the Authorities in April-2022 and continues to work closely with the government to progress these approvals.
Elementos is currently mid-way through a Definitive Feasibility Study (which is forecast for completion in Q2-CY2023) which will mature the project into a position where it can attain finance and enter into construction. The company is focussed on bringing Oropesa into production during 2025.
The Cleveland Tin Project
Cleveland was an underground tin and copper mine near Luna, in Tasmania, operated by Aberfoyle between 1968 and 1986 which produced some 24,000 tonnes of tin. Elementos is currently studying the Mineral Resource and geological prospectivity, with aims to find further mineralisation before entering formal study phases. The company plans to redevelop the project which currently has a tailings resource, open pit resource and an underground resource of tin and copper. In addition, the project has a highly prospective tungsten Resource below the tin-copper mineralisation which continues to be explored. A drilling programme was completed during 2022 to test further extensions along strike of the known Resource, with some assays and geophysics testwork remaining to be completed.
Project Information
Project Name | Oropesa | Cleveland * |
Country | Spain | Australia (TAS) |
Mine Type | Open Pit | Tailings, Open Pit and Underground |
Product | Concentrates | Concentrates |
Output (t/y Sn) | ~3,500 | ~2,000 |
Mine Life (years) | 13 | ~15 |
Start Date | 2025 | 2027 |
*Tailings to be the initial focus of staged development
CRIRSCO Compliant Oropesa Inferred Resource
Ore (Mt) | 2.24 | Metal (t) |
Sn (%) | 0.51 | 11,400 |
CRIRSCO Compliant Oropesa Indicated Resource
Ore (Mt) | 12.33 | Metal (t) |
Sn (%) | 0.38 | 46,800 |
CRIRSCO Compliant Oropesa Measured Resource
Ore (Mt) | 4.30 | Metal (t) |
Sn (%) | 0.41 | 17,600 |
CRIRSCO Compliant Cleveland Inferred Resource
Ore (Mt) | 1.24 | Metal (t) |
Sn (%) | 0.76 | 9,424 |
CRISCO Compliant Cleveland Indicated Resource
Ore (Mt) | 6.23 | Metal (t) |
Sn (%) | 0.75 | 46,725 |