Peak

Peak is located in the northern Cobar Basin, south of Cobar in central-west NSW. The current operation started production in 1992.

Aurelia completed the purchase of Peak from New Gold in April 2018. Through accelerated mining of the high-grade Chronos gold deposit, investment payback on the A$59 million purchase price was achieved within four months.

The operation comprises two separate polymetallic underground mines and an 800ktpa base metals and gold processing  plant. The plant is supplied with lead-zinc-gold and copper-gold ores from several active underground mining areas that use open stope mining with backfill. Thickened tailings are pumped for deposition to an engineered tailings storage facility.

The processing facility enables the treatment of different polymetallic ore types to produce separate copper, lead and zinc concentrates. Ore is processed in campaigns based on the nature of the polymetallic mineralisation mined from the different orebodies.

Drilling at Peak and its deposits is currently focused on further extensions of the existing orebodies across the north and south mines, including Kairos, Peak North, Perseverance
and Chesney. Additional near-mine drilling is focused on evaluating the potential of high-value line-of-lode targets between the main deposits.

The Peak’s total gold sold during FY23 year was 34,137 oz at an AISC of $1,789/oz (FY22: 39,201 oz at an AISC of $1,520/oz). The reduction in the quantity of gold sold during the year is reflective of the lower mined tonnes and grade. Lower sales of copper, lead and zinc were also driven by lower tonnes mined, offset somewhat by higher lead and zinc grades.

Sustaining capital in FY23 was $7.5 million (FY22: $42.6 million) which includes the purchase of a jumbo and haul truck. Total growth capital expenditure for the year ended was $10.6 million (FY22: $11.5 million) which included construction work to raise the Stage 5 TSF embankment.

Regulatory compliance reporting

Follow this link to view Peak’s compliance regulatory reporting.

Production performance

METALUNITFY22 PRODUCTIONFY23 PRODUCTION
GOLDoz40,32236,279
SILVERoz263,546203,981
COPPERt3,7262,188
LEAD t13,44114,416
ZINCt12,27313,302

Site Operations

Peak snapshot

100% Aurelia Metals Limited.

Polymetallic underground mine and processing facility.

Cobar, Central West NSW.

800ktpa.

Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve

Mining

  • South Mine access via shaft access and a boxcut and decline from surface.
  • North Mine access via the New Cobar open pit and decline.
  • Ore sourced from multiple deposits including Chronos, Perseverance Deeps, S400 and Kairos at the South Mine and Jubilee at the North Mine.
  • Open stoping with a combination of loose rock fill and cemented rock fill.
  • 60-70 stopes extracted per year.
  • Core underground mining activities performed by Aurelia with support from specialist contractors.
  • Underground ore crushing and shaft hoisting at South Mine, with ore trucked from up to 1.6km deep to crushing station at 630m depth.

Processing

  • Primary crusher (underground), SAG mill, ball mill, gravity gold and intensive leach, base metals flotation and gold CIL circuits plus three concentrate filtration facilities.
  • Campaign treatment of gold-copper and gold-lead-zinc ores.
  • Significant upgrade completed in February 2020 to allow recovery of separate lead and zinc concentrates by flotation.
  • Grid connections for power and water supply.
  • Products: gold and silver doré, copper concentrate, lead concentrate and zinc concentrate.

Maintenance

  • Progressive structural steel replacement program.
  • Shaft and winder asset improvement projects.
  • Strategic asset management plan implementation to underpin asset reliability improvements.
  • Most fixed and mobile plant maintenance performed by Aurelia with support from specialists in Cobar and regional centres.

Sales and logistics

  • Doré transported and sold to domestic refineries.
  • Concentrates transported 95km by truck to Hermidale rail transfer facility for export through Port Botany (Sydney) and Port of Newcastle.
  • Concentrates are marketed to international traders.