20974 29Metals AR23 WEB V1 - Flipbook - Page 10
29Metals 2023 Annual Report
6
Managing Director & CEO report
2023: A year
of two halves
Without a doubt, 2023 was a tough year for 29Metals – it was also a year where
considerable progress was made to recover from challenges faced to unlock the
potential of our assets to build for a successful future.
Safety
Despite the magnitude of the Extreme
Weather Event at Capricorn Copper1,
we successfully navigated the event with:
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■
■
no health and safety incidents to
the workforce;
no uncontrolled release of
mine-a昀昀ected water from
regulated structures; and
no loss of containment of tailings.
These achievements are a testament
to the dedica琀椀on of the site team
and 29Metals’ signi昀椀cant investment
over the past nearly two years in
water management infrastructure and
management plans.
Looking at safety performance more
broadly, TRIFR improved throughout
the year to 6.5 mwhrs at year end
(2022: 9.8 mwhrs). This signi昀椀cant
reduc琀椀on is the result of our sustained
focus on leading indicators including the
con琀椀nued roll out of the Group’s Cri琀椀cal
Risk Management Framework.
Given the challenges of the year,
our commitment to the mental health
and wellbeing of our people was more
important than ever. The extension of
mental health 昀椀rst aider training and
mental health awareness training was
just part of 29Metals’ focus on suppor琀椀ng
mental health during the year.
Operating performance –
a year of two halves
The direct and indirect impacts of the
Extreme Weather Event1 were signi昀椀cant,
with impacts to produc琀椀on, revenue,
recovery costs, and non-cash accoun琀椀ng
impairment charges.
Through the second half of 2023, we saw
signi昀椀cant opera琀椀onal improvement as we
remained focused on execu琀椀ng our plans
to deliver posi琀椀ve outcomes.
At Capricorn Copper, we formulated a
recovery plan and, early in the second
half, successfully completed phase 1
of that plan with the restart of mining
at Mammoth and Greenstone, and the
restart of milling opera琀椀ons. Phase 2 of
the Recovery Plan progressed in late 2023
and early 2024.
Ul琀椀mately, however, the accumula琀椀on
of more water on site as a result of
successive tropical cyclones a昀昀ec琀椀ng
northwest Queensland made delivery of
phase 2 unachievable in the near term.
This led to the di昀케cult decision to suspend
mining and milling opera琀椀ons at Capricorn
Copper, as announced on 26 March 2024.
At Golden Grove we completed major
debo琀琀lenecking projects which have
delivered improvements in development
rates in the high-grade Xantho Extended
ore body, and iden琀椀昀椀ed sustainable
costs improvements of approximately
$20 million as part of a con琀椀nuing focus
on cost management and capital discipline.
With these enablers now 昀椀rmly in place,
we are well posi琀椀oned to deliver improved
produc琀椀vity and support progressively
higher metal produc琀椀on at Golden Grove.
Advancing our growth
opportunities
Our Australian-based, low-risk,
brown昀椀eld, organic growth opportuni琀椀es
con琀椀nue to highlight the poten琀椀al of our
business, with a disciplined and targeted
explora琀椀on program for the year delivering
excellent results.
As evidenced by our 2023 Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves es琀椀mates
which included a signi昀椀cant increase in
geological con昀椀dence in 29Metals’ Mineral
Resources es琀椀mates, with the propor琀椀on
of our Mineral Resources es琀椀mates in
the Measured and Indicated categories
in our key in-mine and near-mine growth
opportuni琀椀es increasing 45% and 30%
year-on-year at Cervantes (Golden Grove)
and ESS (Capricorn Copper), respec琀椀vely.2
Drilling ac琀椀vity undertaken in Q1 2023
also iden琀椀昀椀ed a new mineralised zone
east of Mammoth at Capricorn Copper.
Addi琀椀onal drilling was undertaken in the
December quarter to further de昀椀ne the
mineralisa琀椀on, and we look forward to
upda琀椀ng the market with these results
in due course.
