That tonnage could potentially deliver 94,300t at a strip ratio of 6.3:1, which includes 48,000t of copper, 137,500 ounces of gold, 1.3 million ounces of silver, 26,000t of zinc and 12,000t of lead.

The pit optimisation study was carried out by Minecomp, who used the historical Mt Chalmers open pit wall and a recent digital terrain model as baseline reference data to design the pit shell slope.

Since open pit mining wound up in 1982, Mt Chalmers has been well preserved and remained stable.

Mt Chalmers resource stands at 11.3Mt grading at 1.22% copper equivalent.

Final metallurgical test work is underway at the ALS Balcatta laboratory in Perth, with Como Engineers engaged for a subsequent pre-feasibility study.

That study will involve detailed geotechnical drilling and studies to determine final pit slope.

QMines managing director Andrew Sparke said results from the pit optimisation study were very pleasing and testament to the significant amount of work completed in such a short period of time.

"The delivery of four resources at Mt Chalmers in just 18 months shows the motivation of the team and the time and cost advantages of the owner-operator exploration model," he said.