Australia has 49.5Mt of copper that can't be mined conventionally. Envirocopper has developed an InSitu Recovery mining technique which enables recovery of some of these resources without digging, blasting, rock movement, noise or tailings dams. This allows for previously stranded assets to now be mined profitably using conventional methods.
Australia has 49.5Mt of copper that, due to the geology, ore grade, water table level or social licence, can’t be mined profitably using conventional methods.
These are known as stranded assets and mean, in essence, billions of dollars and thousands of jobs sitting in the ground.
On top of that, in a world of decreased carbonisation, mining will struggle to support copper supply and demand because it cannot innovate fast enough whilst addressing environmental and social risks.
InSitu Recovery (ISR) is a mining technique that will be able to recover some of these resources. It has been used in the extraction of uranium and phosphates since the 1960s.
Conventional mining has a higher environmental impact, higher costs, and longer time frames to production. Competing land use issues make it difficult to gain social licence to operate. In contrast, ISR has a small footprint, has low-visual impact, is sustainable (produces < 1/3 GHG emissions than conventional mining) and more likely to be socially acceptable.
The only thing that has been holding ISR back is technical, environmental and social concerns about the process - until now.
Over the past 4 years, EnviroCopper has undertaken extensive research work with CSIRO and University of Adelaide to develop a low-impact, low-footprint demonstration site for Copper via ISR at the Kapunda heritage mine, just north of Adelaide.
EnviroCopper's mission is two-fold:
Build a world-class team and become the technology and applied research leader in the application of ISR for copper and gold recovery.
Unlock value through the acquisition and low impact development of stranded copper and gold assets utilising ISR.
With seed investment and Commonwealth government grant funding, the company has addressed the knowledge gaps of ISR and identified innovative technological solutions.
Under EnviroCopper's leadership, the research has successfully achieved several technical, environmental and social ISR objectives.
It examined the problem of ISR in fractured rock environments, helping to overcome some of the recognised barriers to extracting these stranded assets.
This geological modelling also advanced resource estimation for potential ISR mines, crucial to investment decisions.
The final hurdle overcome by the research was extensive environmental baselines and groundwater modeling to manage fluid flows in real time for environmental risk mitigation. This gives confidence to regulators and community alike.
EnviroCopper’s research led to local community acceptance of advances in this exciting mining technique.
Low impact Copper ISR, in conjunction with newly developed techniques, will provide a potential means of profitably extracting stranded assets and unlocking sub- economic mineral opportunities. It delivers low-impact, small-footprint mining of the future.
ISR involves an array of injection and extraction wells, known as a well field, which circulate lixiviants to “rinse” the metal from the ore to be removed. The copper laden solution is then transported via a trunk line to a processing plant for market.
Sulphuric acid has traditionally been used in uranium extraction, but recent research advances by CSIRO Minerals & EnviroCopper have developed environmentally friendly, benign, highly biodegradable solutions to extract copper.
There is no digging, no blasting, no rock movement, no noise and no tailings dams. The well heads are all that are visible and once mining is completed, can be removed and the land returned to its former use
The company will now take the ISR learnings from Kapunda to a second joint venture project near Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula, and potentially a third project in the far north of the state. The company is also in detailed negotiations to partner with mid-tier mining companies and investors, to further fund this expansion.
