Albion Process - Recent Developmentson Copper Projects and Operations

Peter Rohner

Core Resources, Brisbane

www.coreresources.com.au 24th March 2011

Company Overview

Highlights• Specialist services:

– hrltesting (metallurgical laboratory – operating over 25 years).– Marketing of licensed processing technology (Albion Process).– Process engineering, design and flowsheet development– Scoping and Feasibility Studies– Technology Development Partner

• Strong Technical Team:– Hydrometallurgical expertise– Flowsheet development with an economic focus and outcomes that can

be engineered and operated– Project development and commissioning experience

Independent Company

Eberhard Krause - HydroMet Solutions Inc. (April 2008)

“Initially, HS was somewhat concerned that Barrick hadchosen Core, rather than an independent engineering firm,to carry out this pre-feasibility study (PFS), because onemight have expected a positive bias towards the AlbionProcess option .... As was demonstrated by the outcomeof the pre-feasibility study, which looked at threepotential process options (Albion, Roaster and a hybridroaster/Albion process), such worries were unfounded”

Copper Leach Flowsheets

In-SituLeaching

Metal RecoverySX/EW

SX/Crystallisation

Precipitation

CementationTailings

ROM ore

Products- Cathode- Sulphate- Cement- Oxide / Sulphide- Other

Dump/HeapLeaching

Concentration(Gravity /Flotation)

ROM ore

ROM ore

Leach Neutralisation

Lower Grade Concentrate

Residue

Acid

AlkalineSize

Fines

By-products- Gold/Silver- Cobalt- Molybdenum- Rhenium- Indium- Uranium- OtherConcentrate

- Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb)High GradeConcentrate

ROM ore

Albion Process Leach Flowsheets

Metal RecoverySX/EW

SX/Crystallisation

Precipitation

CementationTailings

Products- Cathode- Sulphate- Cement- Oxide / Sulphide- Other

Concentration(Gravity /Flotation)

ROM ore

ROM ore

AlbionLeach

Neutralisation

Lower Grade Concentrate

Residue

Size

Fines

By-products- Gold/Silver- Cobalt- Molybdenum- Rhenium- Indium- Uranium- OtherConcentrate

- Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb)High GradeConcentrate

Coarse

Albion Process Overview

6

• Originally developed by MIM Holdings in 1994.

• Base technology owned jointly with Highlands Pacific.

• 2004 - Xstrata PLC bought MIM Holdings with Xstrata more involved in basemetal projects

• 2005 - Albion Process launched by Xstrata Technology with the technology thenavailable outside of Xstrata Group

• 2005 - Core Resources became global marketing agent for Albion Process

• Late 2005 - First licence issued for Las Lagunas Project – Gold

• Late 2006 - Second licence issued for Certej Project – Gold

• 2011 - Advanced stages of negotiating two new licences (Canada, Armenia) –Gold projects

Albion Process Overview

7

• Combination of Fine Grinding and Atmospheric Oxidative Leaching tobreakdown sulphide minerals releasing metals of value for downstream recovery

+Stirred Mills

Feed P80 ~75 µmProduct P80 8-20 µm

AtmosphericPressure

Temperature ~95oCOxygen Injection

~20-30 hours

Commercial Fine Grinding

8

Examples - Installed IsaMill units

Operation: KCGMOwner: Newmont Mining Corp

Location: Western AustraliaTreatment Rate: 12 tph pyrite concentrateGrind Size: 10-12 µm (ahead of CIL)

Equipment: 1 x M3000 IsaMill

Operation: KumtorOwner: Centerra

Location: KyrgyzstanTreatment Rate: 30-35 tph pyrite

concentrateGrind Size: 10-12 µm (ahead of CIL)Equipment: 1 x M10000 IsaMill

Atmospheric Leaching

9

Commercial plants• Direct atmospheric leaching of sulphides

has been routinely practiced around theworld in the zinc, copper and nickelindustries for many years

• Staged implementation within XstrataGroup

Company Plant Capacity Statis

New Boliden Kokkola 1 50,000 tpa zinc OperationalNew Boliden Kokkola 2 50,000 tpa zinc OperationalNew Boliden Odda 50,000 tpa zinc OperationalKorea Zinc Onsan 225,000 tpa zinc OperationalBirla/Western Metals Mt Gordon 45,000 tpa copper DecommissionedCobre Las Cruces Las Cruces 40,000 tpa copper CommissioningZhuzhou Smelter Corp Shandong 180,000 tpa zinc Operational

Albion Process Leaching

10

Commercial plant at Xstrata Zinc operationin Spain

280 m3 Leach TankOxygen Sparger

Opportunities to Add Value• Alternative products• By-products• In-situ acid production – reduce acid cost• Use of alternative neutralising materials – reduce neutralising cost• Impurity removal• Integrated flowsheets• Additional metal recovery• Key drivers

Albion Process Leach Flowsheets

Copper Cathode• Larger scale projects• Low/moderate power costs• Remote / high transport costs

Copper Sulphate• Premium over metal• Smaller scale projects• Power costs higher• Local demand – zinc flotation, fertilizer plant, feedlot

Other (Cement, Copper Sulphide, Copper Oxide)• Copper cement – concentrates or low cost scrap iron available• Intermediate product – market nearby or integrated flowsheet

Albion Process Leach Product Options

Cu2+ + Fe = Fe2+ + Cu

Smelters don’t pay for many of these elements

Leaching provides an opportunity to recover additionalvalue e.g. Cobalt, Molybdenum, Rhenium, Indium, Uranium

Copper Leach By-product Recovery

Oxide ore / Concentrate

Leach CircuitAir/ Oxygen

Acid

Copper SolventExtraction

Raffinate to Leach

Bleed to by-product recoveryand neutralisation

Advance to EW or Crystallisation

NeutralisationLimestone

Copper Leaching In-situ Acid Production

Oxide ore

Underlying secondaryand primary ore FLOTATION

Leach Circuit

Flotation Tailings

OxygenAcid

HEAP LEACH

SX/EW

Raffinate to Leach

Raffinate to Heap Leach

e.g. Freeport’sMorenci and Bagdad POXplants

Generate excess acid in leaching circuit for oxide leachSeparate pyrite oxidation circuit to generate acid - e.g. Sepon

Recover more pyrite to leachcircuit and oxidise

NeutralisationLimestone

Alternative Neutralising Materials

Oxide ore Concentrate

Leach CircuitOxygen

Acid

HEAP LEACH

SX/EW

Raffinate to Leach

Raffinate to Heap Leach

Turn neutralising stage from cost to a credite.g. Use copper oxide ore (high grade fines) or copper oxide concentrate instead

of limestone / lime.

Neutralisation

FinesCoarse

Impurity Removal

Many large undeveloped copper deposits havesignificant impurity issues.• Salobo, Brazil High Fluorine

• La Granja, Peru High Arsenic

• Tampakan, Philippines High Arsenic

• Nena, PNG High Arsenic

• Many other South AmericanCopper Projects High Arsenic

Core continues to be active further developing alkalineleaching technology to remove arsenic and antimonyfrom copper concentrates.

Concentrate and Leaching Synergies

Case Study

Normal grade concentrate for sale

vs.

High grade concentrate for sale

plus

Low grade concentrate to leaching

Copper Recovery

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Co

pp

erG

rad

e-

%C

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Copper Recovery %

Copper Grade/Recovery

+ + + + ++

PerfectSeparation

Target ConcentrateGrade - 25% Cu

Liberated Chalcopyrite

Max. TheoreticalRecovery

Copper Recovery

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15

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25

30

35

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Co

pp

erG

rad

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%C

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Copper Recovery %

Copper Grade/Recovery

+ + + + ++

PerfectSeparationPlant Separation

Target ConcentrateGrade - 25% Cu

+

Liberated Chalcopyrite

Liberated Gangue recovered by "Entrainment" or "True" Flotation

Plant Recovery

Copper Recovery – Case Study

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Co

pp

erG

rad

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%C

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Copper Recovery %

Copper Grade/Recovery

+ + + + ++

Target ConcentrateGrade - 30% Cu

Liberated Chalcopyrite

30% Recovery toLower Grade Copper

Concentrate - 7.5% Cu

Concentrate forSale

Concentrate forLeaching

Case Study - Project A

• Copper/Cobalt concentrate recovered from tailings of existingcopper operation

• Grade of concentrate - 2.2% Cu and 0.28% Co

• Prefeasibility testing followed by Albion Process Pilot Plant run

• Pilot Results on ~600kg of concentrate over 24 day run• 94% Copper extraction• 81% Cobalt extraction

• Downstream cobalt recovery testwork now being conducted

• Client now progressing engineering for Feasibility Study

• Project Capex in the order of $80M

Case Study - Project B

• Copper/Gold concentrate recovered from tailings of existingcopper operation (additional 17% Cu and 25% Au recovery)

• Grade of concentrate - 2.4% Cu and 1.5 g/t Au• Tonnes of concentrate – 640,000 tpa , containing

~15,000 tpa Cu and ~30,000 oz Au/y

• Scoping Study results• 93% Copper recovery• 85% Gold recovery

• Client now progressing to Prefeasibility Stage

• Project Capex in the order of US$200M

Project Development Program

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• Bench-scale testwork - hrltesting

Project Development Program

24

• Pilot testwork - hrltesting

Key drivers that provide opportunities to use AlbionProcess

• Can only produce “dirty” unsaleable concentrates• Concentrate transport costs high - far from markets• Rising treatment charges• Low power costs• Limestone/other neutralising material available and low cost• Acid available and low cost (or low power cost)• Existing infrastructure available (old oxide leaching operation SX/EW plant)• Local demand for copper sulphate or intermediate• Potential for by-products credits• Significant recovery improvements

Summary

Questions ?