The Australian miner OZ Minerals confirmed that its revival is now well and truly confirmed after a strong December quarter result from its Prominent Hill mine in South Australia’s far north.

PERTH – 

OZ Minerals, which two years ago retained the then new Prominent Hill copper-gold mine as its sole mining asset after the original company sold the rest of its Australian and global assets to the Chinese, has shown that it is now one of Australia’s better performing miners.

It contained its operating costs at a time when labour, fuel and materials are making a major inroad into Australian mining profits and it also had both copper and gold production exceeding targets for calendar 2010.

The company said today that its C1 cash costs were US$0.43.5 a pound for the quarter and US$0.46.4/lb for the year.

OZ Minerals said the Ankata underground operation being developed at Prominent Hill will enable the operation to maintain contained copper production at between 100,000-110,000 tonnes. Ankata should reach full ore production of 1.2 million tonnes per annum in the third quarter of 2012.

The company was maintaining a high exploration profile in the large licence holdings it owns or has under joint venture near Prominent Hill and this year will have five drill rigs dedicated to its leases and one other for the joint venture with IMX

In a presentation today OZ Minerals said that exploration results “indicate potential for a large copper mineralizing system in the region.”

The company is building a global exploration profile that includes the San Eduardo porphyry copper project in Mexico, the Pichasca porphyry target in Chile, new prospects in Cambodia, as well as exploration in the Cobar region of the far west of New South Wales – a region that has produced significant zinc-lead-copper and gold mines.

OZ Minerals’ chief executive Terry Burgess said its total exploration budget for 2011 would be A$95 million (US$94.52 million), with A$70 million (US$69.64 million) of this for the Prominent Hill region.