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Company Information for CBH Resources Ltd

Company stock charts - 12 Month chart

Exchange ASX; CBH


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Company Statement

CBH Resources Limited is a resource company with an operating base metal (Zn-Pb-Ag) mine at Cobar, new base metal developments at Panorama (Cu-Zn) and Broken Hill (Zn-Pb-Ag), a concentrate shiploading facility at Newcastle and a major exploration position in four base metal provinces, that includes 3 deposits under evaluation for development.

The Endeavor Mine at Cobar is an underground mine with associated surface facilities with a mine capacity of 1,200,00 tonnes of ore per year to produce around 140,000 tonnes zinc concentrates p.a. and 60,000 tonnes of lead concentrates p.a. containing 70,000 tonnes zinc, and 40,000 tonnes lead and 31,000 kgs silver.

The mine first commenced production in 1983 and was aquired by CBH in September 2003. CBH is upgrading the mine performance and increasing the mine life. The mine now has reserves for a 15 year mine life following the installation of a paste backfill plant. Reserves and resources are being expanded by drilling.

The Newcastle shiploader handles concentrates for export from NSW mines in addition to handling the Endeavor Mine concentrates shipped to Zinifex's Risdon facility and exported to Asia. The facility can handle more than 500,000 tonnes per annum with recent expansions to the storage capacity.

At Panorama in the Pilbara region of WA a new open pit copper-zinc mine is in development to produce 1.5 million tones of ore per year that will generate 50,000 tpa zinc and 20,000 tpa copper in concentrates with start up scheduled for 2009.

At Broken Hill a new underground mine is in development with decline access well advanced. Production is planned for start up in late 2008 at the rate of 750,000 tpa ore to produce 32,000 tpa zinc, 25,000 tpa lead and 500,000 ounces pa silver in concentrates.

The company holds a strong exploration position in 4 base metal districts. At Panorama additional deposits are being explored and evaluated along a 30 kilometre strike length that can add to the Panorama Development. The Cobar Basin is a base metal district that extends from the Endeavor Mine in the north for over 200 kilometres to the south.

CBH has extensive exploration holdings in this district including two base metal gold deposits under evaluation. In the Kimberly district of WA the company is exploring 3 zinc-lead-silver deposits. At Broken Hill the company has interests in a large exploration ground position that is prospective for high grade Broken Hill style mineralisation.


Current Operations

OPERATIONS
Broken Hill Project
CBH Resources Limited holds mining title (CML 7) over the central 3.8 kilometres of the Broken Hill lode system containing substantial tonnages of unmined zinc, lead and silver mineralisation.

The Western Mineralisation, a zinc rich lode horizon, has been the focus of a detailed evaluation programme for a new mine development based on low cost mining methods.

This new mine, the Rasp Mine, will have the benefits of all the existing infrastructure in place as well as being a mine development without the constraints of old workings and remnant mining.

A decline from the bottom of the Kintore open cut will provide access to the orebody and provide the basis for completion of a final feasibility study. The Resource total within the upper 600 metres of the orebody is:

10.1Mt @ 4.9% Zn, 3.5% Pb and 43 g/t Ag

Access to the ore body is scheduled for April 2008 with production planned for start up in the second half of 2008. The plant design is to process 750,000 tonnes of ore per year to produce 32,000 tonnes of zinc, 25,000 tonnes of lead, and 500,000ounces of silver per year. Additional high grade ore is expected to be processed from remnant main lode pillars that will enhance the project output and cash flow.

Endeavor Mine
The Endeavor Mine is a major underground zinc/lead/silver mining operation in central New South Wales, 46 kilometres north of the town of Cobar and 700 kilometres from Sydney.

Operations commenced in 1983 and comprise an underground mine accessed by both decline and haulage shaft, and serviced by a concentrator, drying, storage and rail facilities.

CBH is upgrading the mine to establish a consistent through put rate of 1.2Mtpa, lower the operating costs and increase metal recoveries. An important phase of the upgrade is the installation of a pastefill plant to achieve a mine life of 15 years through full extraction of current ore resources. The use of paste backfill will enable the mining of large blocks of high grade ore developed in previous mining and enable a more flexible mine plan able to build production capacity to 1.4Mtpa.

Ore haulage has been improved through the introduction of road trains with ore delivery direct to the surface to achieve both increased mine production and a lowering of costs. A new decline is under construction so that ore haulage in the upper 300 meter section of the mine is not constrained. Studies are underway to deepen the shaft from 400m to 1,100m.

The processing plant has been undergoing progressive upgrade and improvements to circuits and can now support a through put rate of 1.4Mtpa with an increased zinc recovery of 85%. A copper circuit is being constructed and will give the Company its first copper stream from August 2006.

At the improved performance levels the mine is expected to produce 80,000 tonnes of zinc and 48,000 tonnes of lead and 1 million ounces of silver per year in concentrates.

Hera Project
The Hera Project was acquired as part of the assets of Triako. It is located 100 kilometres from Cobar and 150 kilometres by sealed road from the Endeavor Mine. Following several drilling programs, Triako estimated a resource of 1.9 million tonnes at 6.7g/t Au, 2.8% Zn, 2.5% Pb and 14 g/t Ag and designed an underground mine to produce between 200,000 and 300,000 tonnes of ore per year. The resource is best suited to processing through an existing mill facility such as Endeavor and studies have commenced to determine the optimal production plan.

Approval has recently been received to commence an exploration decline access to the orebody.

The ore can be treated by trucking to either the Endeavor Mine or a recomissioned Mineral Hill Mine.

Mineral Hill
The Mineral Hill Mine, also a Triako asset, was placed on care and maintenance in September 2005. Between 1995 and 2005 the mine produced 368,978 ounces gold and 20,565 tonnes of copper in concentrates. The Mine and mill have the capacity to treat 200,000 tonnes of Mineral Hill ore per year. The Company is currently investigating the options to bring the operation back into production and/or expand the operation to treat underground developed copper reserves with possible extensions to zinc and lead resources and mineralisation.

An upgraded Mineral Hill operation will then provide the processing capability to treat ore from the Hera Deposit

Carrington Concentrate Shiploader, Port of Newcastle (100%)
The Newcastle Shiploading Facility is centrally located in the Newcastle Port and comprises rail receival, unloading equipment and storage capacity, retrieval and shiploading systems.

The Facility is operated by Carrington Facilities Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of CBH Resources Limited. In addition to shipping the Endeavor Mine concentrates, it handles concentrates from other NSW mines and has a capacity to handle more than 500,000 tonnes per year. In 2005, a $2.2 million extension to the storage facilities gave a 20% increase to capacity

Panorama Project
The Panorama Project is based on development of the Sulphur Springs copper-zinc ore body. Additional resources have been outlined by drilling at deposits along strike from Sulphur Springs and these are being evaluated as additions for the Panorama Project. In total there are six mineralized copper-zinc deposits along a 20km strike length with exploration in progress targeting new resources for the Panorama Project.

A bankable feasibility study has been completed and environmental approvals are being finalized for a 1.5Mt p.a. open-cut mine and ore processing plant to produce 80,000 tonnes per annum of copper concentrates (25% Cu) and 90,000 tonnes per annum of zinc concentrates (53% Zn).

The open pit reserve is 10 million tonnes at 1.5% Cu, 3.7% Zn, 17g/t Ag. There are additional resources below the open cut and along strike that will add to the project life.

The project is located 160km by road from Port Headland, 100 kilometres of which is a sealed highway. A concentrate loading facility is present at Port Headland.

The CBH board has approved the development of the open cut project with a project with an estimated capital cost of $213 million. Commissioning of the project is scheduled for the end of 2008 and first production in 2009. 

EXPLORATION

Exploration Projects
 
CBH has a large, diversified and very high quality portfolio of exploration tenements covering some of Australia's premier base metal provinces. The company currently holds in its own right or in joint venture, more than 4,500km2 of tenements around its existing operating and development projects in the:

  • Cobar-Mineral Hill Region of central west New South Wales,
  • Broken Hill District of far west New South Wales
  • Pilbara Region of Western Australia
  • East Kimberley District of Western Australia and
  • South Nicholson Basin Region of far north west Queensland


Geographical Spread


Board of Directors and Key Management

Jim Wall Executive Chairman
Bob Besley Managing Director
Ian Plimer Non Executive Director
Lewis Marks Non Executive Director
Bob Willcocks Non Executive Director
Tatsuya Tejima Non Executive Director
Stephen Dennis Executive Director
Alan Andrew Davis Director

Company Address

Level 3
2 Elizabeth Plaza
SYDNEY, Australia NSW 2060

Telephone:+61(0)2 9925 8100
Facsimile:+61(0)2 9925 8110
Email:office[at]cbhresources.com.au
Website:http://www.cbhresources.com.au

Additional Address/Key Contact

PO Box 1967
North Sydney
NSW 2059

Annual General Meeting

November, Sydney

Year End

30 June

Broker/Analyst Reports

20/12/06 - Bell Potter

Related News

13/03/08 - CBH Gains The Whip Hand Over Perilya In Merger Talks
14/08/07 - Back To Broken Hill For The Future Of CBH
23/11/06 - CBH Resources On A Roll With More In Store

Most Recent Statement

23/01/08 - Fossil Downs Joint Venture
07/01/08 - Quarterly Throughput Increased at Endeavor Mine
17/12/07 - Significant Resource Increase for Panorama Open Pit Cu-Zn Project Clarification of Resources Reported
11/12/07 - New High Grade Intersections from the Hera Deposit, Cobar Region
05/12/07 - Significant drilling results at Panorama
28/11/07 - High Grade Drill Results at Rasp Mine, Broken Hill

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