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XANADU MINES LIMITED (XAM) - Transforming Copper Mining: Executive Chairman Colin Moorhead on the Kharmagtai Project, Strategic Zijin Partnership, and Red Mountain Advancements
How does a company turn a promising mining project into a major production powerhouse? Find out as Colin Moorhead, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Xanadu Mines Limited, takes us through Xanadu's exciting journey in Mongolia. This episode of ASX Briefs promises an insider’s view of the transformative developments at the Kharmagtai Copper Gold Project, including a groundbreaking 50-50 joint venture with Zijin Mining Group and a comprehensive pre-feasibility study that could position Kharmagtai as the next big player in the copper mining industry.
But that's not all—Colin also sheds light on the promising Red Mountain Copper Gold Project, drawing intriguing comparisons to renowned mining regions like the Lachlan Fold Belt. Learn about the innovative metallurgical and extensional drilling work that is pushing the boundaries of what these projects can achieve. If you’re passionate about mining, exploration, and the future of resource development, this episode is packed with valuable insights and strategic advancements that you won’t want to miss.
Welcome to another episode of ASX Briefs, and joining me today is Colin Moorhead, the Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Xanadu Mines Limited, a company that's making significant strides in the exploration and development of copper and gold projects in Mongolia. With a portfolio that includes the Kharmagtai Copper Gold Project and the Red Mountain Copper Gold Project, Xanadu Mines is at the forefront of discovering and developing world-class mineral deposits. Colin, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.
Colin Moorhead:G'day, Andrew, and thanks for having me.
Andrew Musgrave:So Colin first of all, can you give our listeners a brief overview of Xanadu Mines and its key projects?
Colin Moorhead:Sure Andrew, Xanadu is a good, old-fashioned exploration company focused on discovering base metal and precious metal deposits in Mongolia. We've got a portfolio of three projects at the moment. Our flagship Kharmagtai project which is in pre-feasibility study and a joint venture with Zijin Mining Group. We've got the Red Mountain property which is akin to a North Parkes/ Lake Cowal type setting also in the South Gobi desert and a brand new early stage nickel copper project called Sant Tolgoi
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and the Kharmagtai Copper Gold Project is the cornerstone of your operation, so can you share some recent developments about the project and what they mean for the company's future?
Colin Moorhead:Yeah, sure. So that's a joint venture 50-50 joint venture with Zijin Mining Group, which is one of the largest miners out of China. Our strategy was to do a scoping study and use that to attract a funding partner, and we're really pleased to have Zijin join us there. Part of that deal was they funded the pre-feasibility study, so put US$35 million into it. We've been the manager and we're just about to publish that PFS, which should describe a 30-year open pit copper mine that produces a bunch of gold as well and be the next big copper mine development in Mongolia.
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and your recent metallurgical test work and extensional drilling at the project have shown promising results, so can you just elaborate on these findings and their potential impact?
Colin Moorhead:Sure, these porphyry intrusive complexes continue to grow and we've seen that around the world. You never really finish drilling them. Clearly, Kharmagtai is wide open at depth and we see real potential for, you know, there's 30 years of open cut defined in the pre-feasibility study. But there could be that much underground as well because the system's wide open and the grades are getting better at depth. In the metallurgy we see this is a good, old-fashioned copper concentrator with gravity gold up front, producing a really high-quality copper con with very few deleterious elements and a strong gold by-product credit. And we're located, you know, only 100 or so k's from the Chinese border with good rail links through to, you know, the biggest market for that product.
Colin Moorhead:The metallurgy work we've done shows that it's all doing as expected. We do have some oxide material on top which is well mineralised but doesn't recover through a flotation circuit. So we're also looking to see if we can get some oxide treatment into the plant. We've done coarse particle flotation work which suggests that we can coarsen up the grind and get more bang for your buck, if you like, through the mill. And we've also done some work on Jameson cells to get a higher concentrate grade, which takes a lot of cost out of it. So there's always opportunity around exploration and innovation to make these projects better over time, and we're tracking down those things as part of the pre-feasibility.
Andrew Musgrave:Okay, and elsewhere in Mongolia you have the Red Mountain Copper Gold Project as well. So what are the latest updates from that project and what potential do you see there?
Colin Moorhead:Yeah, sure, it's quite an advanced exploration project. It's also a copper gold setting. It's more akin to your sort of North Parkes/ Lake Cowal type setting in the Lachlan Fold Belt, and in fact if this was sitting in the Lachlan Fold Belt you'd probably float a company, it s that good a project. We've got through COVID. We kept our boys and girls in Mongolia busy doing target generation work up there, mapping and sampling and trenching. They defined a number of strong copper gold targets. We've since drilled the best four of those, Target 33 being an epithermal gold play and Nowie, which is more a shallow, higher-grade copper play. We recently published some results from 5,000 metres of drilling and there's clearly a reason to be cheerful there and we're looking to go back there and do some follow-up drilling in the summer before Mongolia gets cold again.
Andrew Musgrave:All right, and just looking ahead, in closing, what are some of the key milestones you're looking to achieve in the next 12 to 18 months?
Colin Moorhead:Okay. So we will publish a pre-feasibility study this quarter that should define, as I said, a 30-year open cut mine life. It does open up a deal window with Zijin to take the project forward. So we'll be looking to commercialise that project and then progress, not only Red Mountain but our Sant Tolgoi project, which is in the northwest of the country and it's more a Mount Keith-style magmatic nickel-copper setting. So hopefully there'll be some news on that front.
Andrew Musgrave:All right. Well, it's been great to chat today, Colin, so thanks for your time and gave us a good update on where the company's at, and we look forward to further updates in the upcoming months.
Colin Moorhead:Thank you very much, Andrew, appreciate it.
Andrew Musgrave:That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.