ASIA rate from four million tonnes to six million tonnes per annum .
The second opportunity at Tujuh Bukit is to develop a series of underground mines to exploit the massive porphyry copper gold deposit that underlies the oxide mine . “ We are currently doing the pre-engineering to put an exploration decline into the porphyry which sits below the oxide mine we are operating ,” Moorhead adds . “ That upper high grade zone ( UHGZ ) of that deposit is estimated to contain about 300mn tonnes at 0.8 % copper and 0.8 grams of gold .” The decline will help Merdeka acquire the data needed to support a prefeasibility study for the first mass underground mine .
Sustainable mining The journey to developing one of Indonesia ’ s best deposits , and with that , one of its most reputable mining companies , has not been easy . Issues over ownership and permitting slowed progress before a single brick was laid . And once that had been taken care of , the company had the weather to contend
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