Australia-based Alara Resources Limited, a minerals exploration and mining development company, has announced the launch of a feasibility study for establishing an 800,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) capacity copper-gold processing plant in Oman, a report said.

The new feasibility study will follow up on an advancing scoping study which was completed earlier this year, added the Oman Daily Observer report.

Also known as the ‘Washihi/Daris Copper Gold Project’, the initiative centres on a proposal to process mineral ores extracted from deposits discovered in the Washihi and Daris areas of the Dhakhiliyah and Batinah North governorates respectively of the country.

According to the report, a statement from Alara said that it is also weighing a proposal submitted by “a large, vertically integrated mining, engineering and construction firm” for the establishment of a copper-gold processing plant at Washihi.  

The proposal envisages a complex of facilities that includes a concentrator valued at $15 million, a crushing plant of a capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum, and a million and floatation capacity of 800,000 tonnes per annum, it added.

Alara has joint ventures interests in a total of four (copper-gold) exploration licenses extending over 692 sq km, collectively referred to as the Washihi/Daris Project.

The Washihi project comprises three prospects/exploration licenses (Washihi, Mullaq and Al Ajal) totalling around 105 sq km. Alara has a 70 per cent interest in Al Hadeetha Resources, the holder of the mineral licenses for Washihi.

The Daris Project, on the other hand, comprises one exploration licence (Block 7) of around 587 sq km. Alara has a 50 per cent interest in the joint venture Daris Resources (with a right to earn up to 70 per cent) which holds the exclusive right to manage, operate and commercially exploit the exploration licence, the report noted.