Osborne

Inova Resources, previously known as Ivanhoe Australia, purchased the Osborne underground mining project, in Queensland, from Barrick Gold, in September 2010. The mine began production in February 2012, at the same time as the company's nearby Kulthor underground mine. In November 2013 the Osborne copper and gold mine was acquired by Shanxi Donghui Coal Coking and Chemicals Group Company Limited of China, when it obtained a controlling interest in Inova Resources. Taiyuan based Shanxi Donghui, is the largest coking coal producer in China.

The Osborne Mine Came With all Required Infrastructure
The Osborne copper and gold mine is located 50 kilometres south of
Mount Dore in the North Western Region of Queensland. The mine consists of mining infrastructure, processing facilities and exploration tenements that includes the following assets:

353 square kilometres of exploration tenements. These tenements are prospective for additional mill feed for the Osborne processing plant
A modern all weather airstrip that is two kilometres long and able to accept jet powered aircraft
A developed underground copper and gold producing mine along with a mobile mining fleet and mining equipment in excellent condition
An up to date mining employees camp able to house 470 workers A gas pipeline and associated 22.3 megawat diesel and gas fired power station                                            A gas pipeline and associated 22.3 megawatt diesel and gas fired power station            A copper and gold flotation concentrator able to process two million tonnes of ore a year

Underground Development at the new Osborne Mine Began in 2011
Underground development work began at the Osborne mine site in the second quarter of 2011, beneath previous underground mine workings. In June 2012 the first copper, gold and silver concentrate shipment was made from the mine. The shipment comprising over 10,000 wet tonnes of clean concentrate containing no penalty elements achieved over 95 percent copper recovery while being milled. It was worth $15 million and shipped out of Australia from the port at Townsville. The first concentrate shipment from the Osborne Mine followed the company's first pour of gold dore at the mine. By June 2013 the recovery rate at the Osborne processing plant averaged 69.6 percent for gold and 88.2 percent for copper.

Osborne Mine Concentrator Upgrade Pays Dividends
The Osborne concentrator uses both flotation and gravity separation to recover copper and gold concentrates. The original carbon-in-pulp (CIP) gold recovery circuit was abandoned when it was discovered between 60 and 70 percent of contained gold was reported in the copper concentrate. A new gravity circuit designed around a Knelson concentrator was installed as a replacement. Besides the new system recovering free gold it allowed concentrator throughput to increase to 1.3 million tonnes a year from a previous 1.0 million tonnes a year. Concentrator throughput has increased substantially since that time to two million tonnes annually.

Travel by Road to the Osborne Mine can be Hazardous
As the Osborne mine is situated in a remote location in North West Queensland, 200 kilometres south east of Mt Isa, it requires the mine workers to be flown in and out of the mine site when rostered on and off. Some employees choose to travel to and from the mine by their own means. This also includes the mines business partners, visitors and many company representatives, many travelling from as far as Townsville. This is particularly precarious because the roads in and out of the area are unsealed and the risk of hitting roaming cattle and wildlife is real, as are breakdowns and tiredness.