PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Minerals developer Heron Resources said on Tuesday that it was investigating the restart of the A1 gold mine, at Woods Point, in Victoria.

Speaking at the second day of the Paydirt 2010 Resources Victoria Conference, Heron MD Mathew Longworth said that an increasing number of the studies aimed towards a mine restart decision, have now been completed, or were nearing completion.

“Realistically, any mine start would be around 18 months or so away, but our current modelling is focusing on a throughput of about 100 000 t of underground ore production using a combination of hand-held air leg mining and mechanised mining techniques,” Longworth said.

A processing plant would be located at the surface.

“On work to date, we would see any renaissance for the A1 mine having a mine life of around eight years, depending on further exploration success – and we are continuing to drill as A1 offers a genuine near-term production opportunity.”

Heron has a derisked two-year option expiring August 2011 to purchase 100% of the former gold producer, which features diorite dyke-hosted reefs which have historically yielded 450 000 oz of gold up until mining ceased in 1992.

Longworth said Heron was in a strong financial position to fund any decision to move to mining of A1, being one of the few companies to emerge from the global financial crisis with more funds on hand than at the start of the crisis.

On site, Heron has completed site infrastructure and decline development and exploration drilling and sampling is ongoing.

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