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- Galaxy Resources (GXY) has reported a mineral resource and ore reserve depletion for its Mt Cattlin Project in WA
- As of December 2020, the revised mineral resource sits at 12 million tonnes at 1.2 per cent lithium dioxide and 149 parts per million tantalum pentoxide
- The 2.6 million tonne depletion aligns with Galaxy’s annual reconciliation process, which allows it to optimise production as estimated in the ore reserve
- Additionally, the ore reserve depleted by 250,000 tonnes to help moderate production and increase the consumption of low-grade stockpiled ore
- Looking ahead, Galaxy will target a slightly lower product grade of 5.6 to 5.8 per cent lithium dioxide to facilitate higher volumes for its customers
- Galaxy’s shares have dropped 1.2 per cent to trade at $2.48 each
Galaxy Resources (GXY) has revised the mineral resource and ore reserve estimate for its Mt Cattlin Project in Western Australia.
The spodumene project is located two kilometres from Ravensthorpe and produces a high-quality lithium product for export to Asia.
The revised mineral resource estimate for 2020 sits at 12 million tonnes at 1.2 per cent lithium dioxide and 149 parts per million tantalum pentoxide for 152,400 tonnes of contained lithium dioxide and 3.94 million pounds of contained tantalum pentoxide. This marks a 2.6 million depletion from mining operations as planned.
Since operations restarted at Mt Cattlin in late 2016, Galaxy has maintained an annual reconciliation of resource depletion. Reconciliation allows mining companies to determine the ability of its project to produce the tonnage, grade and contained metal that were estimated in the ore reserve.
In addition, the ore reserve depleted by 250,000 tonnes from mining operations and stockpile recovery.
The Mt Cattlin Ore Reserve now sits at 8 million tonnes at 1.1 per cent lithium dioxide and 139 parts per million tantalum pentoxide for 89,900 tonnes of contained lithium dioxide and 2.43 million pounds of tantalum pentoxide.
Depleting the ore reserve aligns with Galaxy’s market-driven strategy to moderate production and increase the consumption of low-grade ore that’s been stockpiled.
Looking ahead, Galaxy will target a slightly lower product grade of 5.6 to 5.8 per cent lithium dioxide to facilitate higher volumes for its customers.
Galaxy’s shares have dropped 1.2 per cent to trade at $2.48 at 10:57 am AEDT.
