PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Openpit mining has started at the Wiluna gold mine, in Western Australia.
ASX-listed Blackham Resources said on Wednesday that the restart of mining at Wiluna was expected to increase plant feed grade, reduce haulage costs and significantly reduce mine sequencing risks due to more mining areas.
Mining of the Wiluna free milling pits will also significantly reduce both the geological and mining risks associated with the larger sulphide pits, prior to the recommissioning of the Wiluna plant's sulphide circuit.
Processing of the higher-grade Wiluna ore will take place from October, and in line with the mine plan adopted at the start of the year, the remaining openpits at Matilda will be mined concurrently with the Wiluna openpits for the rest of the financial year.
This was the first time in ten years that openpit mining had taken place at the Wiluna mine, Blackham said.