Rathdowney Resources Ltd. is focused on advancing Project Olza through permitting and into production. Project Olza is located in the Upper Silesian Mining District of southwestern Poland, a world-class region of Mississippi Valley-type deposits with well-developed mining infrastructure. Easily accessible by road, the Olza project site is a one-hour drive from Krakow, a major city with full services, including an international airport. The deposits at Olza are 25 km from the ZGH zinc smelter at Boleslaw. A railway line runs through the Olza project-area, linking it to smelters throughout Europe and to ports on the Baltic Sea.
Project Olza is located in the Upper Silesian mining district, a region of world-class Mississippi Valley type (“MVT”) deposits as recognized by the USGS1, and which includes long-life mines such as Pomorzany and Olkusz. Significant zinc-lead deposits in the area of Project Olza were identified, historically, through 180,000 m of drilling conducted in the 1950s to 1980s by the Polish State Survey. Rathdowney’s drilling program in 2011-2013 began to test these extensive deposits, and to December 2014 had outlined 24.4 million tonnes of inferred mineral resources grading 7.02% Zn+Pb (at a 2% Zn cut-off)2 with excellent additional resource potential. Information in the table below provides a comparison with other Upper Silesian deposits and well-known MVT districts.
In addition to its geological potential, Project Olza has a number of advantages when compared to many other emerging Zn-Pb mine development projects. Mining has taken place in the Upper Silesian district since the 12th century, and as a result, there is extensive infrastructure, including power and rail already in place as well as a skilled local workforce. Situated in the heart of Europe, the existing rail infrastructure provides Project Olza with direct, low-cost access to ports and smelters.
These advantages are reflected in the results from the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) announced earlier this year. The Project Olza PEA shows strong potential financial returns for a conventional 6,000 tonnes per day bulk room and pillar mine with standard on-site processing yielding two marketable low iron zinc and lead concentrates5. Project Olza would be a low-cost producer of an average of 197 million pounds of zinc and 59 million pounds of lead, annually, readily available to markets in Europe and throughout the world.
