Ironbark Zinc reviewing mine plan for Citronen Zinc-Lead project in Greenland

Ironbark Zinc Limited (ASX:IBG) is reviewing the mining plan at its flagship Citronen Zinc-Lead Project in Greenland to potentially include new and improved mining methods that have been developed since the original plan was released. This decision has been taken by the company following an optimisation study of the Citronen mine plan, inclusive of two throughput scenarios - 3.3 million and 1 million tonnes per annum. Mining Plus was engaged to partner with the company in delivering this optimisation study. The main objective of this work was to evaluate a production schedule for an initial 1 million tonnes scenario, targeting an increased head grade in the opening three years of production. Deeper review underway The study has since highlighted several areas where the existing mine plan can be improved with new mining methods and techniques with the company's board subsequently commissioning a much deeper review of this plan. The intention is to increase the robustness and relevance of the plan with respect to key performance metrics demanded by resource capital markets in 2020. As part of this study, it is intended that Mining Plus will deliver a maiden JORC-2012 ore reserve for the Citronen project. Investigating improvements Depending on the results of the mining optimisation study, it is possible that a similar investigation will be undertaken around processing to reflect advancements over the decade since Citronen was first studied in detail. The original optimisation study was also expected to determine the viability of removing remnant ore pillars (post freezing of the tailings back-filled voids) independent of throughput rate. Preliminary results on the former suggest that pillar removal will require a major revision to the mine design and scheduling. The review has commenced and supersedes the former investigation of the initial 1 million tonnes per annum operation.