While attention is focussed on large-scale mine projects in Tasmania and Queensland aiming for start-ups between 2013 and 2015, MGT Resources is aiming to be the first Australian junior into production later this year. The company is looking at both hard rock and alluvial mining and has already been testing a refurbished mill which could treat the ore.
MGT’s Mt Garnet project in northern Queensland is initially based on a five year lease of the Heads or Tails property and the 70,000 tpy capacity Mt Veteran mill. The company hopes to obtain a 20 year licence on the much larger Summer Hill property later in the year and is also planning to acquire alluvial mining projects which could all feed into the central mill. The mill itself could be expanded to 250,000 tpy capacity by the end of 2013, depending on the company’s success in acquiring more leases and exploration work.
ITRI understands that initial production at the Mt Veteran mill could start soon after the end of the current rainy season, with output of some 20 tonnes per month of concentrate grading 50 – 55% tin. By the end of the year the production rate could be doubled. Increases in mining activity and the planned mill expansion could boost production of tin-in-concentrate to around 80 tpm during the course of 2013.
