Perth, July 12, 2006 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: RMS) has received a significant bonus from the first milling of high grade ore from its Wattle Dam gold mine, 25 kilometres west of Kambalda in Western Australia.
The Company announced today that average gold grades from the milling of Run of Mine (ROM) ore ranged between 7 and 14 grams per tonne (g/t) and averaged 10g/t.
This result compared to the 6.9 g/t average head grade predicted by grade control drilling. The gold recovery rate was also very strong, typically greater than 90%.
"These are preliminary results but follow on from the three times higher than expected gold grades - up around 4.5 g/t - from the 5,400 tonne trial parcel of low grade ore we processed before commencing the current main milling campaign," Ramelius' Managing Director, Mr Joe Houldsworth, said today.
"Whether similar higher than expected grades apply to further ore parcels from Wattle Dam will not be determined until the ore is processed but both results so early in the program point potentially to a much stronger total gold profile for this mine," Mr Houldsworth said.
"The milling results - our first for Wattle Dam - also reflect the broader potential of this under-explored area to host sufficient high grade gold mineralisation in small deposits which are able to be rapidly defined and mined."
The gold produced from the trial parcel of low grade ore generated gross revenue of $570,000. Mr Houldsworth said that if the initial high grade milling rates were extrapolated across the first 30,000 tonne campaign alone, the Company could expect around 8,700 ounces of gold, worth $7.2 million on current prices of A$830/ounce.
Milling of the first 30,000 tonne batch of ROM ore is expected to be completed by the end of this month, with Ramelius scheduling at least another two similar sized high grade batch runs by the end of the year through the Higginsville Greenfields Plant.
Contact
Joe Houldsworth
Ramelius Resources
TEL: +61 8 9250 6644
Kevin Skinner
Field Public Relations
TEL: +61 8 8234 9555 / 0414 822 631
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