PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The King of the Hills gold project, in Western Australia, is now estimated to host some 3.1-million ounces of contained gold, ASX-listed Red 5 told shareholders.
The company on Monday reported a bulk mining mineral resource estimate of 66-million tonnes, grading 1.5 g/t gold for King of the Hills, with 76% of the resource classified as indicated.
Red 5 MD Mark Williams told shareholders that the upgraded mineral resource clearly demonstrated the scale and potential of the project, which the company believed had the potential to form the cornerstone of a substantial midtier Australian gold business with the resource base, production profile and mine life required to attract global institutional investors.
“Importantly, 76% of the updated resource, or 2.35-million ounces, is now in the higher confidence indicated category, and therefore is available for conversion into ore reserves. The updated resource also now comprises openpit and underground components, giving a clearer picture of the likely overall parameters of a standalone mining and processing operation at King of the Hills that could include underground and openpit production and satellite deposits.”
Williams noted that the updated resource estimate would provide a foundation for a prefeasibility study to evaluate the economics of a potential standalone operation at King of the Hills, which is now under way.
The standalone plant would likely have a capacity of between two-million and four-million tonnes a year.
“This prefeasibility study will focus initially on the openpit resource, supplemented by the resources currently being evaluated by our ongoing regional exploration programme.”