contribution first year payment for the development of New Cobar Complex.
Aurelia Metals had plenty of good news to report at their community meeting last week including having the best ‘Life of Mine’ outlook they’ve had in years.
The company holds regular community meetings in an effort to update the Cobar community on their operations, projects, future growth plans and partnerships with local community organisations.
General Manager of the Cobar Region, Angus Wyllie, led the meeting and reported the business was in a strong position.
Mr Wyllie said the Cobar region had an estimated 10-15 years of mine life currently planned across various projects.
He spoke about key future growth projects including the expansion of the Peak processing plant, the Federation and Great Cobar projects, and re-processing the historic tailings at the New Occidental mine.
Mr Wyllie reported the mill expansion at Peak is ongoing.
“We’ve seen the mill ramping up to 20,000 tons a week, through the last month.
“We hit a record day of over 3,000 tons through the mill on a day, and 74,000 tons last month,” Mr Wyllie said.
“In that, we’re seeing really good recoveries, both gold and zinc, also great con grades [concentrate grades] for zinc and lead through the plant.
“We’re still focused on continuing to ramp up development and keep that front going
“So a lot of focus at Peak on both the plant and underground.”
He said things were “tracking really well” at the Federation site with “very good gold grades” coming out.
Mr Wyllie said the development at the Great Cobar site was “a bit down for the quarter” due to some ventilation works but they were aiming to pick that up in the next quarter.
Further operation updates were also provided by Aurelia’s Project Manager James Wellington.
Environmental team members Jonathon Thompson and Craig Flemming provided information on the New Occidental Tailings Project, which will reprocess historic tailings through the Peak Processing Plant, and the text message blast warning service Aurelia hopes to roll out in July.
HR staff shared updates on their apprenticeship and traineeship intakes and also spoke about the various employment opportunities currently available across their departments.
At the meeting Mr Wyllie presented Cobar Shire Council Mayor Jarrod Marsden with a ceremonial cheque for $316,202 which represents the company’s Voluntary Planning Agreement contributions. It’s the first annual payment agreed between Council and Aurelia to coincide with the commencement of works at the New Cobar Complex.
The funding will support Council’s Community Enhancement Fund which helps resource the library and Youth and community centre with funding also to be allocated to the advancement of the Early Learning Centre.
The company additionally recognised local organisations they have supported through the latest round of Peak Donations Committee funding, with more than $72,000 awarded across 16 community initiatives in April 2026.
