20974 29Metals AR23 WEB V1 - Flipbook - Page 92
29Metals 2023 Annual Report
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Directors’ Report continued
29Metals Appendix 4E and Annual Financial Report for 29Metals Limited and its Controlled Entities for the year ended 31 December 2023
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Operating and Financial Review
This is the perating and Financial Review for the Group for the year ended 31 December 2023 (the ‘ZĞƉŽƌƚŝŶŐWĞƌŝŽĚ’). The prior period results are for
the year ended 31 December 2022 (‘ϮϬϮϮ’), unless otherwise stated.
OVERVIEW OF 2023
2023 proved to be a year of extremes and the most challenging in 29Metals’ short history but also a year where considerable progress was made to
recover from challenges faced to unlock the potential of our assets as we build for a sustainable future.
Through the first half of 2023, the Group’s operations faced significant headwinds resulting from:
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the impact of an extreme weather event at Capricorn Copper in March 2023 (the ‘džƚƌĞŵĞtĞĂƚŚĞƌǀĞŶƚ’), which resulted in:
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inundation of areas on the site, resulting in significant loss and damage to surface infrastructure;
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a significant increase in the water inventory held on site, including an estimated 00 M of water in one of the underground mines, Esperan a
South (‘^^’);
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suspension of operations from March 2023 until the partial restart of operations (‘WŚĂƐĞϭ’1) in August 2023;
impacts to production at Golden Grove from:
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constraints on milling rates to manage tailings capacity pending approval and construction of increased tailings storage capacity; and
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commissioning failures affecting ventilation booster fans installed to support increasing activity in the Group’s highest grade ore source, Xantho
Extended (‘y’), which required supplier action to rectify;
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remediation works required to fix damage to the Gossan ill portal limiting development and mining activity; and
macroeconomic headwinds, including lower commodity prices, continuing inflationary and labour market pressures across the mining sector.
Collectively, these challengers had a material impact on the Group’s 2023 operating and financial results. In the face of these challenges, 29Metals
demonstrated considerable resilience to recover and improve its operations through the second half of 2023 and deliver:
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considerably improved safety performance under challenging operating conditions;
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de risking and de bottlenecking projects to deliver a restart and or lift in production following each interruption with 9 of Group copper and
of Group inc production delivered in the second half;
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more efficient operations, delivering cost efficiencies, reducing the impact of industry wide inflation and lower copper and inc prices.
A summary of achievements realised and the impact of the above matters on the Group’s performance for the Reporting Period is provided below.
KEY OPERATING RESULTS
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Continued improvement in safety performance with a 3
31 Dec 2023 (31 Dec 2022: 9. mwhrs).
Group copper production of 2 .2kt (2022: 0. kt), 1 lower than the prior period, reflecting:
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increased copper production at Golden Grove to 1 .1kt (2022: 1 .9kt) from a higher proportion of copper ore milled; and
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a
inc production of 1. kt (2022:
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…
1
2
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reduction in copper production at Capricorn Copper to .1kt (2022: 23. kt) impacted by the Extreme
eather Event.
. kt), 11 lower than the prior period reflecting a lower proportion of inc ore mined.
XE de risking projects were completed, with upgrades to ventilation and related infrastructure, despite commissioning delays, delivering
progressively higher activity levels through the year with:
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reduction in the Group total recordable injury frequency rate (‘dZ/&Z’) to . mwhrs2 at
Development advance of 2,329m (2022: 1, 1 m), comprising 92 m in the first half and 1, 02m in the second half; and
re production of 331kt (2022: 1 2kt), comprising 112kt in the first half and 219kt in the second half,
The ramp up in activity levels and ore production from XE contributed to improved operational and financial performance, with second half copper
and inc metal production at Golden Grove exceeding the first half by
and 32 , respectively.
Refer to 29Metals’ announcement entitled ‘^ƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĐhƉĚĂƚĞ’ released to the ASX announcements platform on 23 May 2023.
dZ/&Z is reported on a 12 month rolling average basis at 31 December, reported per million work hours (‘ŵǁŚƌƐ’).
