PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior gold miner Blackham Resources has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with fellow-listed GWR Group at the Wiluna project, in Western Australia.
The JV would see the companies delineate and mine gold deposits at GWR’s Wiluna West gold project, while processing operations would take place at Blackham’s 100%-owned Wiluna Plant.
The Wiluna West gold project is estimated to host a combined Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 4.16-million tonnes, grading 2.2 g/t gold for an estimated 289 000 oz of gold.
Under the terms of the agreement, GWR will be responsible for drilling the gold deposits, and once a resource definition and initial metallurgical testwork has been completed, the deposit could be introduced to Blackham as a proposed qualifying deposit.
Blackham will then undertake a feasibility study to determine the economic potential of the project, after which the deposit will be included in the JV.
“This landmark agreement is a significant milestone for the company, transitioning us from developer to miner and producer,” said GWR GM Adrian Castello.
Blackham executive chairperson Milan Jerkovic said that the JV was an opportunity to partner with an emerging junior gold mine, and aligned with Blackham’s strategy to sue the Wiluna plant to process external party ore as it seeks to optimise free milling operations as part of its transition to a Stage 1 sulphide expansion.