Catalpa Resources grows gold reserves

Perth-based emerging gold producer Catalpa Resources today reported a 16 per cent increase in its gold Reserves from 544,000 ounces to 629,000 ounces at its wholly-owned Edna May Gold Project in Western Australia.

The company is on the cusp of a new phase of development towards production at its Edna May project, positioned a few kilometres from the infrastructure of established mining town Westonia.

Bruce McFadzean, Catalpa Resources managing director, confirmed that the additional ounces have a significant impact on the Edna May Gold Project feasibility study.

The reserves have been based on a gold price of $A1,025 per ounce at a processing rate of 2.8 million tones per annum.

"We are delighted to report the additional 85,000 ounces. The additional ounces at recent gold prices are a significant boost to the project revenue," Mr McFadzean said in a statement.

"This is the first of a number of reserve upgrades that will be reported over the December quarter and applies to the Edna May deposit alone.

"We will report the Greenfinch reserves when they are finalised and additional upgrades to the Edna May reserve as they are completed.

"The low grade nature of the open pit reserve is complemented by the ore body geometry and low strip ratio combined with a large process plant capacity of 2.8Mtpa that is planned to be increased to 3.2Mtpa from year three onward.

"Our mine schedule demonstrates annual gold production of more than 100,000 ounces recovered."

The reserves have been compiled by Coffey Mining as part of their key role in providing the bulk of the work in the feasibility study for Catalpa.