Australian miner Sandfire Resources has begun construction work at its Black Butte copper mine in Maeghar County, Montana.
The company received its final mining permit August 15 and has now begun early-phase development, like building roads, pads and a small reservoir.
The Black Butte mine seems promising with its 2019 Johnny Lee estimates—10mn mt of measured mineral resources, graded at 2.9pc Cu, which translates to 311,000mt of contained copper. An additional inferred resource of 2.7mn mt, grading 3pc copper, adds another 80,000mt of copper to the reserves.