PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Crushing operations have started at the Burbanks gold treatment plant, in Western Australia, ASX-listed Maximus Resources reported on Thursday.
Ore from ASX-listed Empire Resources’ Penny’s Find project was introduced to the crusher earlier this week, under a toll treatment agreement which would see Empire supply up to 150 000 t of ore from the Penny’s Find project to the Burbanks treatment plant.
Maximus told shareholders that some 8 600 t of ore was currently on the Burbanks run-of-mine pad, with ore haulage continuing at between 15 000 t and 20 000 t a month.
The mill has a capacity of about 180 000 t/y, with a continuous improvement programme being implemented to improve throughput rates and reduce costs.
Maximus is also continuing discussions with other parties to supply additional tonnes throughout 2017 and 2018, to ensure the mill performance is maintained at full capacity.
Meanwhile, Empire on Thursday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with nickel miner Poseidon Nickel to evaluate processing Penny’s Find gold ore through the Black Swan operation gold processing facility.
Poseidon is hoping to process over two-million tonnes of gold ore a year at the 2.2-million-tonne-a-year Black Swan processing facility, and currently has an MoU in place with both Aphrodite Gold and Northern Star Resources to process gold ore through the Black Swan facility.