PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into the Bartons underground mine, at the Nullagine gold project, in Western Australia, has proven the project could be developed into a viable mining operation.
ASX-listed Millennium Minerals CEO Peter Cash told shareholders on Friday that the scoping study outlined a very compelling development profile for Bartons, which represented the first proposed underground mining operation at the Nullagine project.
“This is a very positive result for Millennium, with the scoping study confirming the potential viability of our first-ever underground mine development at Nullagine and highlighting significant upside potential once we can drill out the lower portions of the Bartons mineralised zone using underground drill rigs.”
Cash said that following completion of the next round of drilling to upgrade the existing Bartons underground resource, Millennium would be in a position to complete a feasibility study during the December quarter, with the aim of starting underground development shortly after completing the Bartons openpit cut-back in January 2018.
Millennium in August this year reported a maiden underground resource of 475 000 t, grading 5.3 g/t gold for 80 400 oz of contained gold at the Bartons deposit.