Gold ore from external and internal sources is expected to bring prospector Mark Creasy’s Bronzewing discovery back in production in the first half of next year.
Golde from external and internal sources is expected to bring prospector Mark Creasy’s Bronzewing discovery back in production in the first half of next year.
The mine, 400 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie and currently on care and maintenance, was previously associated with Joe Gutnick’s Great Central Mines, Normandy Mining, and bought from Newmont by Perth-based View Resources in July 2004 for $9 million.
Newly listed Korab Resources expects to begin trucking ore 45km from its Melrose project to the Bronzewing plant, which produces 2.3 million tonnes a year, within the next six months.
And View Resources expects to bring its own Cockburn underground mine on stream within the same time frame to produce more than 70,000 ounces a year over the next four to five years, still a long way short of the more than 200,000 ounces a year Bronzewing produced in its heyday.
Perth-based Korab’s Melrose project contains gold resources of 306,000 ounces in three separate deposits along a 20km strike length.
A report by Strachan Corporate, commissioned by Korab, has come up with production of just less than 50,000 ounces over four to five months next year to generate an operating cash flow of $7 million at a gold price of $A578/ounce. The current gold price is around $A620/ounce.
Korab executive chairman Andrej Karpinski told WA Business News the company had begun drilling its Bungarra deposit aimed at defining a minable resource of 700,000 tonnes at 2.4 grams of gold a tonne and design work on a 50 metre deep pit. Drilling and resource definition should be completed before the end of the year and is being carried out with some road widening to Bronzewing.
Perth-based View’s Cockburn underground resource stands at 2.62mt at 5g/t containing 418,000 ounces.
View managing director Derek Lenartowicz said options for using Bronzewing’s extra processing capacity were also likely to include ore from its Bronzewing Central open cut, which had current reserves of about 1.7mt.
Milling both underground and open-cut ore would fill the mill for about two years and produce between 120,000 and 140,000 ounces a year for that period.
“Our ultimate objective is to reach and maintain the previous Bronzewing production levels of over 200,000 ounces a year. We believe there is strong potential to increase our underground resources by drilling around already defined resources,” Mr Lenartowicz said.
Korab and View Resources have also signed a joint venture covering View’s Maitland uranium project, 130km south-east of Wiluna.
The joint venture will allow Korab to earn up to 30 per cent by spending $300,000 over 18 months, with the option to increase its stake to 60 per cent by spending a further $300,000 over the next 18 months.
The 160 square kilometre project area is adjacent to Redport’s Lake Maitland uranium deposit, discovered in 1971 and containing an estimated 7,860t of uranium oxide.
Mr Karpinski said the company planned to drill the project between November and March, following a program at its Batchelor uranium project near the old uranium producing Rum Jungle field in the Northern Territory.
