PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment has approved gold miner Evolution Mining’s plans to increase the processing rate at its Cowal plant by 31%, from 7.5-million tonnes a year to 9.8-million tonnes a year.
“This approval is a significant step towards achieving our objective of increasing Cowal’s annual production rate to over 300 000 oz/y. It also provides job security for our mine employees and contractors and will continue to stimulate demand in the local and regional economy,” said Evolution executive chairperson Jake Klein.
Evolution is expected to spend between A$40-million and A$45-milion on the plant expansion, with feasibility studies currently being finalised.
The miner said that with regulatory approval granted sooner than expected, there was potential to bring forward the internal approvals process for the expansion to the March quarter of 2019.