Matilda Reserves Continue To Grow Ahead of First Gold Pour
Perth, June 17, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Blackham Resources Ltd (
ASX:BLK) is pleased to provide a revised Ore Reserve estimate for the Matilda Gold Project. Recent successful drilling, resource upgrades and open pit and underground mine design optimisations have added a further 43,000oz to the free milling reserves at the Matilda Gold Project since the publishing of the Definitive Feasibility (DFS) on 24 Feb 2016. Blackham has added 1Mt @ 3.3g/t for 106,000oz in Mining Inventory in the 4 months since the DFS and mining studies are ongoing on additional deposits not currently in the mine plan.
Key Points:
- Matilda Gold Project Ore Reserves grow to 7.0Mt @ 2.5g/t for 560,000oz (up 17% since DFS)
- Mining Inventory grows to 9.3Mt @ 2.9g/t for 873,000oz (up 14% since DFS)
- Strong conversion of Mining Inventory to Reserves continues
- Currently 5 drill rigs completing infill and extensional drill programmes
Now that Blackham has all its Matilda Gold Project approvals in place, the management team are focused on preparations for the commencement of open pit mining at the Matilda Mine and underground mining at the high grade Golden Age orebody.
Ongoing mining optimisation work by Blackham's mining team, mining contractors and consultants has resulted in the latest reserve estimate which was undertaken by Entech Pty Ltd (Entech) and Intermine Engineering Consultants (Intermine), based on a review of the latest Matilda, Galaxy and Golden Age gold Resources. Entech focussed on the design of the Golden Age Underground with Intermine focusing on the open pit. The designs have been refined from the DFS for integration into the new production plan for the start-up of operations. The Ore Reserve estimate is based on financials and modifying factors determined as part of the DFS and announced in this updated Reserve estimate.
Blackham's Executive Director, Alan Thom commented:
"Matilda gold production is now imminent. This announcement is a great result in both strengthening our reserves and lengthening the project life. The expansion of the free milling reserves gives us confidence that we can keep growing the size of the Matilda Gold Project."
Blackham Resources Ltd plans to commence mining within 3 weeks and has 4.8 million ounces of gold resource within an 860km2 exploration tenement package which has historically produced over 4.3 million ounces. The Matilda Gold Project is located in Australia's largest gold belt which stretches from Norseman and Kalgoorlie to Wiluna. Blackham's 100% owned Wiluna gold plant, which operated up until 2013, is located in the centre of the Matilda Gold Project and can process up to 1.7Mtpa or ~100,000ozpa as confirmed by the published DFS. The expanded Matilda Gold Project now includes combined resources of 46Mt @ 3.3g/t for 4.8Moz Au (Table 6 in link below).
Blackham is initially focused on the free-milling resources which it intends to process through the established low risk circuit of crushing, grinding, gravity and carbon in leach. The free-milling open pit Matilda deposits are planned to provide a base load feed stock for the Wiluna gold plant which will be supplemented with the high grade quartz reef deposits and shallow underground deposits.
Since finalising the DFS Resources, Blackham has continued drilling at Matilda, Golden Age, Galaxy and Bulletin with the aim of improving the quality and quantity of the reserve ounces.
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/CK0874OK
About Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd
Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMC) (OTCMKTS:WMXCF) is a Perth based, ASX listed gold mining company that controls over 1,600 square kilometres of the Yilgarn Craton in the Northern Goldfields of WA. The Yilgarn Craton has a historic and current gold endowment of over 380 million ounces, making it one of most prolific gold regions in the world. The Company owns 100% of the Wiluna Gold Operation which has a defined resource of 8.04M oz at 1.67 g/t au. In May 2019, a new highly skilled management team took control of the Company with a clear plan to leverage the Wiluna Gold Operation's multi-million-ounce potential.
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