
Austral Resources Australia Ltd (ASX:AR1) has successfully completed the West Pit at its Anthill Mine, marking a significant milestone in the company’s growth strategy.
The completion comes after overcoming challenging conditions, including two consecutive extreme wet seasons in 2022-2023 and groundwater ingress of up to 20 litres per second.
The West Pit project yielded impressive results, with 2.4 million wet tonnes of copper ore extracted at an average grade of 0.65 per cent Cu.
Additionally, 7.6 million wet tonnes of waste were removed, including 200,000 tonnes of in-pit dumping.
The company also identified and safely extracted an extra 18,000 tonnes of high-grade copper ore from below the original pit shell design.
Austral’s operational capabilities were put to the test during this project.
The company successfully managed the onboarding of a new mining contractor, ReGroup, in August 2024, ensuring production continuity and adherence to quality standards.
The project also involved completing 239 kilometres of linear drill metres.
With the West Pit now complete, Austral is shifting its focus to the East Pit at Anthill.
The company aims to complete operations at the East Pit before the 2026 wet season.
David Newling, Company Chairman, expressed pride in the achievement, stating: “This achievement, similarly to our recent MOU with NFM, demonstrates our outstanding operational capability.
“We are a lean and nimble company focused on improving and expanding its mining and processing capabilities to achieve the results our shareholders expect.”
This successful completion of the West Pit reinforces Austral Resources’ position as a resilient and capable copper producer in the North West region of Queensland.
The company’s ability to overcome challenging conditions and deliver results bodes well for its future projects and shareholder value.