JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Focus Minerals on Monday reported that it had securing all the necessary mining permits and environmental approvals to mine The Mount deposit, in Western Australia.

It was estimated that the deposit housed around 350 000 oz of gold.

The Mount, which lies 80 km south of Focus’ Tindals mining centre, at Coolgardie, would play a key role in lifting the Focus’ production from 41 000 oz last financial year to 80 000 oz in 2010 and ultimately to 100 000 oz from 2011 as mining starts at its other surrounding deposits.

Focus CEO Campbell Baird said that the environmental approval at The Mount had paved the way for the construction of a decline, which began on Friday. This would enable the company to run a trial mining operation aimed at determining the full potential of what is already known to be a substantial deposit.

Baird said that The Mount would be a significant source of feed for Focus’ refurbished Three Mile Hill processing plant. Three Mile Hill, which was expected to be commissioned in November, would have an annual capacity of 1,2 million tons.
Environmental approval for The Mount comes as Focus prepared to recalculate the reserve and resource estimate at the Tindals mining centre, based on an ongoing drilling programme.

The Mount formed part of Focus’ overall resource base of 1,88-million ounces comprising of and indicated resource at around 11,1-million tons at 2,1g/t for 755 000 oz, and an inferred resource estimate of 12—million tons at 2,9g/t for 1,1-million ounces.

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