Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Doray Minerals has extended the life-of-mine (LoM) plan for its Deflector operation to the end of 2022, with the Western Australia-based mine now expected to deliver 43% more gold than the previous plan.
The updated Deflector LoM plan is expected to produce an additional 340 000 oz of gold and 6 800 t of copper, with forecast yearly production growing by 30% to around 85 000 oz of gold at an average all-in sustaining cost of A$1 070/oz.
Deflector’s total mineral resource has also increased by 34%, from 569 000 oz to 762 000 oz, after depletion of 75 000 oz in 2018.
Doray said on Friday that the additional resource was delineated at an average discovery cost of just A$25/oz.
“Doray’s focus on operational efficiency, understanding the orebody and cash generation has culminated in a much improved LoM model,” said Doray MD Leigh Junk.
“I believe there is still significant room for future value creation including potential additions to the production profile from the Da Vinci lodes, which have recently been the focus of an intensive resource definition drilling campaign.”
Junk said that these lodes would be evaluated for their mining potential in an upcoming prefeasibility study, and could underpin significant, sustainable production growth.
“This supports our view that Deflector, in terms of its stage of life, is still only in its infancy and has a future mine life potential of greater than five years.”
Further, Doray’s increased knowledge of the structural controls of the Deflector orebody, along with the relatively untested near-mine corridor, provided significant targets for additional discoveries in the short- to medium-term, Junk said.
Doray will invest some A$10-million on exploration at Deflector in 2019, to fast-track these opportunities.