Focus begins mining The Mount

Focus Minerals says it will lift its yearly gold production by 40,000 to 60,000 ounces, after it announced the start of mining at its underground gold project, The Mount.

Focus said its had a target of 1,500 ounces per cetrical metre at the Mount, and it would aim to extract 40 vertical metres each year.

The Mount, located at Widgiemooltha, has a significant inferred resource of 2.1 million tonnes at 5.5g/t for 370,000 ounces.

Focus said it had already produced over 34,555 tonnes at 7.78g/t from trial mining at The Mount

Focus chief executive Campbell Baird said the start of commercial mining at The Mount marked the beginning of a second production platform to complement existing underground mining operations at its Tindals Mining Centre, near Coolgardie.

"The Mount will give Focus an additional source of high-grade feed for the Three Mile Hill processing facility and, as we move into production through the June quarter," Mr Baird said.

"We aim to have The Mount at full scale production by the end of the year."

At 12:30PM (WST) Focus shares had gained 4 per cent, to trade at 7.7 cents.