The current Ore Reserve is based on the extraction of oxide ore which occurs from surface to a maximum depth of 120 m. Ore will be extracted from five open pits, using conventional open pit mining methods.

Lady Annie Operations (LAO) elected to carry out mining using a dry hire fleet with maintenance support and the company directly employs the operating, supervisory and technical workforce. The dry hire arrangement is particularly well suited to the growing Ore Reserves allowing for maximum flexibility in the scheduling of equipment and manpower.

The mining fleet is sourced from CDE Capital Pty Ltd, a Northern Territory based mining contractor which utilises the services of Komatsu Australia to maintain the new fleet. The base fleet configuration includes;

-        2 x Komatsu PC 1250 excavator

-        8 x Komatsu 785-7 trucks

-        1 x Cat D10T dozer

-        1 x Cat D9T dozer

-        1 x Cat 16H grader

-        1 x Komatsu 655 grader

-        1 x Cat 773C water truck

Orica Australia provides a “down the hole” explosives service for the mine and has established a fully self contained explosive storage and manufacturing facility on site. Drilling services are provided by Hughes Drilling Pty Ltd which currently has 2 drill rigs permanently based on site.

The mining schedule of 420,000 bcm of total movement is required for the plant production rate of 19,000 tpa copper cathode. This will increase to 560,000 bcm per month in the second half of 2008 to meet the requirements of the 30,000 tpa expansion.  The increased mining rate is within the capabilities of the existing mining fleet.

Development of the Lady Annie pit is scheduled to commence in mid 2008 and it will be mined with the relocation of one of the existing fleets from Mount Clarke. Ore will be mined to a local stockpile and then transferred to road trains for the 19 km haul to the ROM pad.