PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A revised mine plan at the Portia gold project, in South Australia, could see first gold production some three months ahead of schedule, ASX-listed Havilah Resources reported on Wednesday.
It was estimated that it would take about two months to remove the now considerably reduced volume of overburden at the Portia gold project, to access first ore. As a result, first gold ore production was expected by April this year.
Havilah MD Chris Giles said that the prospect of earlier delivery of gold bearing ore was a welcome development.
“The innovative revised mining plan provides the opportunity for us to access the gold ore three months earlier for no additional cost, which potentially brings forward cash flow from gold sales.
“Our development team is working hard to meet the challenge of bringing forward assembly and commissioning of the processing plant in time for first gold ore delivery.”
Havilah and partner Consolidated Mining and Civil took the decision to modify the original whole-of-pit mining plant to a staged plan, which would see the development of an interim sub-pit on the high-grade northern orezone.
The new mine plant meant that the remaining overburden in the western part of the openpit could continue to be removed, while some 2 000 t/d of ore could be mined from the floor of the interim sub-pit.
The Portia mine is estimated to host a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant inferred resource of 720 000 t, grading 2.9 g/t gold for 67 000 oz of contained gravity recoverable gold.