PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Catalpa Resources’ Edna May gold mine, in Western Australia, has reached steady state production ahead of schedule, the company reported on Thursday.

The mine poured its first gold at the end of April, and was expected to reach nameplate capacity of 2,8-million tons of gold by the end of July.

Catalpa has now successfully commissioned the processing plant and infrastructure at Edna May, MD Bruce McFadzean said.

“The process plant has commissioned reasonably well and we are now happy to communicate to the market that we have reached steady state, predictable production. Albeit we are in the early stages of our ramp-up schedule, we have seen some very encouraging early indicators to gold recovery rates and residence time.”

McFadzean said that during the performance testing of the plant in May this year, the plant was ramped up and sustained capacity was close to three-million tons a year, indicating that the process plant was capable of its nameplate throughput.

“The commissioning phase met with typical issues associated with power, chute design, materials handing and other minor issues, many of which have either been resolved or will be addressed in the ramp-up period.”

He added that the plant was now operating consistently, allowing the operational team to focus on delivering the ramp-up target of 2,8-million tons a year, by the end of July.

“The early commissioning of the process plant has allowed us to bulk process and test remnant stockpiles from previous mining activities, which have had a positive grade reconciliation, to date,” he added.

McFadzean said that following the completion of the commissioning and construction of the Edna May project, Catapla would look to restructure its senior management team to enable the company to focus on operations and future growth.

As such, Stuart Pether has been appointed as COO, while Adrian Pelliccia, who was formally Catalpa’s manager for geology, has now been appointed as manager for business development.

John Winterbottom has been appointed manager of geology in Pelliccia’s stead.

Meanwhile, John Fraser has been appointed as the GM for the Edna May project.

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