JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Gruyere gold project, which Australian junior Gold Road and South African major Gold Fields are building in a 50:50 joint venture near Laverton, Western Australia, is advancing according to schedule.

With early works at Gruyere having started in December 2016, construction has now been in progress for more than 12 months.

In a project update on Thursday, Gold Road reported that project engineering was 72% and construction 32% complete, which puts the project on track to be brought into production by the end of the first quarter of 2019.

“A great deal has been achieved in the past 12 months, which is testament to the efforts of the project team and our contractors,” said Gruyere project director Sim Lau.

Costs incurred to date were in line with the budgeted overall project capital of $532-million.

Gold Road reported that its mining contractor, Downer EDI Mining, would begin mobilising its workforce in the March 2018 quarter to start construction of the mining infrastructure. Mining activities would start in the December quarter.

MACA Civil has made good progress with the bulk earthworks and has completed several key components of the contracts, including the 28 km main access road, a sealed airstrip and clearing for the Stage 1 Pit and the tailings storage facility (TSF).

The Gruyere main access road, which connects the site with the Mt Shenton‐Yamarna road, and the Gruyere airstrip are open, although the airstrip is only accepting aircraft carrying up to 30 passengers as it awaits Civil Aviation Safety Authority certification to accept larger aircraft (up to 100 passengers). It is anticipated that certification will be granted in the March 2018 quarter.

Work has begun on the upgrade of the Mt Shenton‐Yamarna road, which is scheduled for completion in the March 2018 quarter, as well as the construction of the TSF embankment walls using material extracted from the Stage 1 Pit, which will be the final activity undertaken as part of the bulk earthworks contract and is scheduled for completion in the June 2018 quarter.

Amec Foster Wheeler Civmec JV, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, had poured 4 200 m³ of the concrete in the process plant area, including the largest single pour to date of 750 m³ for the primary crusher raft slab. A further 10 500 m³ of concrete is to be poured before the process plant is complete.

Construction of the seven carbon-in-leach tanks is progressing to schedule.