PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold production has started at the Matilda gold project, in Western Australia, with ASX-listed Blackham Resources expected to pour its first gold in the next few days.
Blackham noted that during the September quarter, some 1.57-million cubic metres of material were mined, with mining focused on the removal of overburden to open up ore sources.
Underground mining for the quarter also focused on lateral development around the old Golden Age stopes. There are currently three jumbos on site focused on development and rehabilitation activities.
Mining from the openpits, underground and existing stockpiles has resulted in gold stockpiles of some 172 000 t, grading 1.4 g/t gold for 7 900 oz available for milling, which accounted for a full month of production.
Blackham noted that with ore milling now having started, gold in circuit was accumulating and first gold pour was expected within days.
The expanded Matilda gold project includes Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant measured, indicated and inferred resources of 48-million tons at 3.3 g/t for 5.1-million ounces within an 860 km2 exploration tenement package and has historically produced more than 4.3-million ounces.