Nifty Copper Operations was established to treat a copper orebody
situated in the East Pilbara area of North West WA, located approximately
70 km west of Telfer in the Great Sandy Desert. The plant was designed
to treat the oxidised portion of the orebody with underground
development following at a later date. Nifty was designed to produce 16
500 tpa of copper cathode. This will increase with treatment of the
chalcopyrite ore (underground resource). Ore processing is similar to other operations of this type but has its
unique challenges. Problems discussed are: fine clay minerals which
hinder percolation; oxidation of organic by manganese in the electrolyte;
crud formation by clays; third phase emulsions; and organic carryover
into the electrowinning tankhouse. As the orebody utilisation progresses, some sulphide material will
require leaching and further investigations into liquor chemistry.