Aim-listed gold miner Vast Resources’ Pickstone-Peerless gold mine, in Zimbabwe, in July progressed to the commissioning phase.
Production at the mine was scheduled to start last month, with an estimated output of 10 000 oz/y of gold from the targeted initial mining rate of 10 000 t/m of ore from an opencast oxide gold cap.
The first two blasts, one at the Pickstone openpit and one at the Peerless openpit, have been completed, with run-of-mine ore being stockpiled at the feedpad, ready for the wet commissioning of the crusher circuit.
Further, the circuit, comprising a primary crusher, two secondary crushers and a cone crusher, has been completed. This will allow for additional construction personnel to be allocated to the milling circuit and the carbon-in-leach/carbon-in-pulp tanks.
Electrowinning and the gold production facility, as well as the ancillary facilities, such as the laboratory, accommodation and mine offices, have also been completed.
“With the start of blasting, the processing plant construction is well advanced and production is on track. “This is a very exciting period of develop-ment,” Vast Resources CEO Roy Pitchford has said.
Project Description
The definitive feasibility study completed on the oxide cap (Phase 1) of the project – a subset of the entire Pickstone-Peerless mine project – has allowed Vast Resources to declare a maiden reserve of 2.02-million tonnes, grading 2.06 g/t gold for 136 052 oz, based on a gold price of $1 500/oz and a cutoff grade of 0.4 g/t.
Value
Phase 1 is estimated at $23.54-million, which was implemented in June last year.