Sandfire study for expanded Motheo proves positive

Copper miner Sandfire Resources on Wednesday announced that it would advance plans to increase the size of its Motheo copper project, in Botswana, from 3.2-million tonnes a year to 5.2-million tonnes a year, after declaring a maiden ore reserve for the satellite A4 deposit, along with a prefeasibility study (PFS) for the expansion case. The miner earlier flagged the likelihood of starting the Motheo operation at an expanded capacity, with the project expected to produce between 55 000 t/y and 60 000 t/y of copper.