PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior AuStar Gold has started mining at its Rose of Denmark gold mine, in Victoria, to assess gold grades land for longer-term mine planning.
The first phase of mining is expected to take between two to three months to complete, and a further month to process the mined material.
The positive outcomes from the initial mining will be linked with expanded deeper drilling, to ascertain the extent to which the mineralisation at Rose of Denmark extends at depth, concurrently with the development using mechanised equipment and mining of gold bearing zones.
“The recent diamond drilling at Rose of Denmark has consistently produced high gold grade assay results with visible gold, and as a result our expectation is to be able to mine profitably,” said AuStar CEO Tom de Vries.
“Apart from a parcel of approximately 8 000 t of ore mined in late 2011 and early 2012, the mine has not been in commercial production since the mid-1920s. Prior to AuStar’s recent drilling programme, the mine had almost no modern exploration and presents a great opportunity for us.”
De Vries said that the best and quickest way to assess the potential for profitable gold production from Rose of Denmark is by mining and processing a sufficient tonnage of gold-bearing material.
“At this stage, initial material recovered for processing contains significant visible gold and quartz veining from multiple locations, which is extremely encouraging. Drill intervals with visible gold in recent drilling produced grades as high as 290 g/t gold over 0.3 m, and were a consistent indicator of high gold grades.”
De Vries said AuStar’s recent consolidation of ownership of the Rose of Denmark project also provided another reason to prioritise the mine as an additional source of mill feed for its gravity processing plant.