ASX Release: 28 July 2016
Quarterly Activities Report ‐ for the period ended 30 June 2016
ASX Code: RXM
Cash on hand: A$6.205M Shares on Issue: 220.5M
Options on Issue: 16.8M (Unquoted)
Market Capitalisation: A$13.89M (at 6.3cps)
Share price range in quarter:
4.8c to 7.8c
Website: www.rexminerals.com.au
For further information, please contact:
Richard Laufmann (Chief Executive Officer)
Phone: +61 8 8299 7100
E‐mail: [email protected]
For media and investor relations enquiry please contact:
Gavan Collery
Phone: +61 419 372 210
Email: [email protected]
HIGHLIGHTS
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Rex Minerals has submitted to the South Australian Government detailed additional information in support of its Hillside Copper Project Extended Feasibility Study (EFS).
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This information includes a "Description of Operations," updated independent modelling reports and a revised assessment of impacts.
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Once government completes an adequacy check, the Company will make this information publicly available.
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Separately, Rex Minerals continues to prepare information for the Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) as well as the Social Management Plan (SMP).
During the quarter, much of the focus for Rex was on completing and delivering a range of additional information to government, and on working towards completion of the PEPR and the SMP.
The first part of that effort - a range of additional information linked to the Hillside Project EFS - is now being assessed by government, and once that process is completed, Rex will make this information publicly available.
The second part of that effort - completion of the PEPR and SMP - has seen healthy progress and a heightened level of local community interaction and consultation that is ongoing.
In our last Quarterly Report, Rex provided some context for future copper demand and supply, and the copper market continues to reflect the view that copper prices appear to be a few years from sustained recovery.
1
HILLSIDE PROJECT
Project Approvals
Rex Minerals (Rex or the Company) holds an approved Mining Lease (ML) for the Hillside Project, obtained in late 2014 from the South Australian Government's Department of State Development (DSD). In May 2015, Rex announced the results of an Extended Feasibility Study (EFS) which involves a smaller‐scale but very similar open pit operational project focusing on copper‐gold only, and with the ability to expand or extend the operation at a later stage, depending on commodity pricing and overall project economics.
Rex has been engaging directly with the local community, with the representative community consultative group (Hillside Mine Community Voice - HMCV) and the DSD on the detail of the revised project (which has a lower overall impact). In June this year, the Company submitted to the DSD the detailed additional information from its EFS in the form of a full "Description of Operations" document, along with updated independent modelling reports and revised impact assessment documents. This information will be used by the DSD to confirm the revised project is consistent with the existing ML.
As Rex has consistently stated in its community consultation, additional information prepared for the DSD will be released to the public through Rex's website. The DSD is currently undertaking an adequacy check to ensure the additional documents contain all the required information, and once this is completed, Rex will release the "Description of Operations" documents to the public, to be followed by other documents, once they are assessed by the DSD.
While many aspects of the Hillside Project have not changed, including the overall method of operation, some areas have changed. These include:
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A reduced area of direct operations;
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An operation that will now be less than 50% of the original mining rate, with less than half the previous mill throughput;
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A focus on copper‐gold extraction only;
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Lower water and power use; and
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No off‐site infrastructure impacts, apart from the previously‐approved road diversions, power line and water pipeline.
Rex has continued to prepare information for the Program for Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) and the Social Management Plan (SMP) which is required to be submitted and approved by the DSD before operations can commence. The Company is engaged with various local community Working Groups, established within the HMCV, to obtain feedback and community input into the PEPR process (see below).
Community Engagement
The Company has continued to engage closely with the community around the Hillside Project as well as with local town and regional representatives, using Rex's Community Engagement Plan as a guide. This plan is based around guidelines set down by the DSD, and it incorporates actions and activities that the Company will engage in with the community through the planning, construction, commissioning, operation and rehabilitation phases. It incorporates multiple ways of direct and indirect engagement with the local community, including engagement through the HMCV.
The HMCV includes representatives from the surrounding landowners, progress associations, businesses, the Yorke Peninsula Council, the Yorke Peninsula Land Owners Group (known as the YPLOG) and other local and regional groups, and it includes Rex representation. The HMCV was established last year, in response to the approval of the Hillside Project ML, and it has taken on similar tasks to the previously‐convened Community Consultative Group which was established in 2011 and remained engaged during the exploration process, larger‐scale feasibility studies, the ML proposal submission and the granting of the ML.
Rex continues to supply detailed information about its revised Hillside Project to the HMCV, including all its members, as work on the above additional information documents has been progressing. Detailed extracts of information have been provided to HMCV members associated with the Working Groups established to review key aspects of the PEPR preparation.
Seven Working Groups were established to inform and provide local input and expertise into key areas of the PEPR and SMP. These Working Groups are now involving other community members outside the HMCV, and have commenced meeting to enable cross‐pollination of ideas. Rex is providing background information and detail where required by and within each group, and group leaders will report back through the HMCV.
An important message that Rex has been communicating through the HMCV and other meetings is that the Mining Lease Conditions as set down by the South Australian Government in its approval of the ML still stand, even with the revised project. These conditions are there to ensure that a future mining operation will have minimal impact on the surrounding area and will not impact on the health of employees or surrounding community.
Rex is continuing one‐on‐one meetings with landholders directly adjacent to the Hillside Project site, and in the broader vicinity, to update them on the revised project and related project parameters. Further meetings with community members, businesses and local government are planned once the revised project detail is released through the "Description of Operations" document.
Hillside Site Activities
The Company completed a substantial drilling program during 2011 to 2012 over its freehold land, and full rehabilitation of this impacted area was completed in 2013. Rex now has two years of compiled broad‐acre cropping data which demonstrate the successful rehabilitation of the land, and will be making details of this available to the regulator and the local community in the near term.
Greening Australia is an environmental not‐for‐profit organisation, engaged by the Australian Government, specialising in conservation and restoration of natural landscapes. Rex has been assisting Greening Australia with its native revegetation program on crown land adjacent to the Yorke Peninsula (YP) coast and to the Rex ML. Rex has provided manpower and equipment to assist this successful revegetation project which will also accommodate users of the "Walk the Yorke" walking and leisure trail through Rex's Hillside property and extending along the scenic cliff top sections of adjacent YP coastal land. The "Walk the Yorke" trail has been completed. Other key components of this crown land vegetation project include:
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Fencing of boundaries;
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Collection of local native seeds;
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Weed control;
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Fox and rabbit control;
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Revegetation of impacted areas;
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Sowing lines ripped and sprayed;
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Direct sowing of native seeds into ripped lines; and
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Planting of native tube stock.
About Hillside
Located 12kms south of the township of Ardrossan on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, the EFS into the Hillside Copper and Gold Project was initiated in mid‐2014. Key findings to date from the EFS include:
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a A$480 million development, including an open pit mine and processing plant;
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an initial 13+ year mine life, with a Mineral Resource (measured, indicated and inferred) of 337Mt @ 0.6% copper and 0.14g/t gold, equating to approximately 2.0Mt of copper and 1.4Moz of gold;
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an Ore Reserve (proved and probable) of 82Mt;
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an annual minerals processing rate of six million tonnes to produce approximately 35,000 tonnes of copper and 25,000 ounces of gold per year; and
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an estimated construction workforce of 550 people and an estimated production workforce of about 500 people.
Tenement Schedule for the quarter ending 30 June 2016
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Tenement
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Location
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Lease Status
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Area Type
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Current Area
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Date
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EL5056
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Moonta South
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Granted
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km²
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416
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02/08/2012
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EL5055
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Moonta South
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Granted
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km²
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1,262
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02/08/2012
|
|
EL5683
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Moonta South
|
Granted
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km2
|
21
|
10/06/2015
|
|
EL5508
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Moonta South
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Granted
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km2
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151
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05/11/2014
|
|
EL5133
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Wandearah
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Granted
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km²
|
96
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01/08/2012
|
|
EL4779
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Wandearah
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Granted
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km²
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41
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13/10/2011
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|
EL5070
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Cowell
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Granted
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km²
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85
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24/10/2012
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ML6438
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Hillside
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Granted
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Ha
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2,998
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16/09/2014
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|
EML6439
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Hillside
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Granted
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Ha
|
225
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16/09/2014
|
|
MPL146
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Hillside
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Granted
|
Ha
|
94
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16/09/2014
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NEXT QUARTER
During the next quarter, Rex will continue its interaction with the SA Government's DSD on additional EFS information including the "Description of Operations" and progress on the PEPR/SMP process. The Company will also continue with its important community and government consultation process, with a major emphasis on the Yorke Peninsula community.
Also during the next quarter, Rex will issue its Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2016 to shareholders. The Company's Annual General Meeting will be held in the final quarter of the year.