Meeka Metals has installed its newly acquired 750 kiloWatt per hour ball mill at its 1.2-million-ounce Murchison gold project development, 50 kilometres north of Meekatharra in the Murchison Goldfields in Western Australia.
The ball mill is arguably the heart of the processing plant and its installation is sure to be celebrated, although it is but one item in Meeka’s dizzying inventory.
Infrastructure is just part of the work in train. The company has myriad pieces leading up to pre-stripping, mining, stockpiling and pressing the “start” button on the plant that have to be slotted into place in the correct sequence.
In addition to the mill, expansion and refurbishment work on the carbon-in-leach gold processing plant continued through March, including installation of the cyclone cluster on its supports.
In the mining industry, cyclones are crucial for classifying and separating particles in slurries based on size and density, enabling efficient processing and resource extraction.
The steel fabrication for the top of the new leach and adsorption tanks is also underway. These will eventually include walkways, ladders, slurry agitators and motors, dewatering screens and the switchgear, lights, alarms, sensors and wiring to make it all work.
Other village and support infrastructure were also brought to operational or near-operational status, including commissioning of the open pit heavy vehicle workshop in March and all of the open pit support infrastructure. This includes a 12-inch dewatering borehole and its accompanying pump at the Wilber open pit to support the Andy Well underground operation.
Access was also completed to the high-grade underground Andy Well mine, where it was found that the existing ground and requisite ground support remain in good condition.
Meeka Metal managing director Tim Davidson said: “We achieved a major milestone during March 2025 with the larger 750kW ball mill installed, in addition to most of the structural work and various other key deliverables for the expanded processing plant now complete or nearing completion. It was also pleasing to see the open pit team accelerate in line with the plan during March. By month’s end the team were achieving a production rate equivalent to about 600kBCM per month.”
Installation of other mine services will continue during the June quarter, with underground ore development and diamond drilling commencing around mid-year.
Construction and completion of the open pit administration buildings at Turnberry was in train through March and is complete, as is the 20km haul road between the processing plant and the open pit mining area.
All of the works took place in concert with an ongoing resource expansion drill program at Meeka’s Turnberry project, slated to wind up before the end of the third quarter.
Further process plant upgrades and refurbishment is ongoing as at end of March and is scheduled to continue through to June.
Additional activities between March and early June and the end of the third quarter include the onset of open pit mining at Turnberry and St Anne’s at the same time as the set-up for high-grade mining at Andy Well is expected to be completed, before Meeka starts underground mining around the end of the fourth quarter.
April will see first ore production from the open pits and ore haulage to the processing plant in preparation for process plant commissioning.
Processing plant and project expansion will run through the second to third quarter with commissioning aimed at midway through fourth quarter and gold production set to begin before Christmas.
The project is between the towns of Mt Magnet and Cue and about 46km northeast of Meekatharra.
Project tenure covers 281 square kilometres within five exploration licences and two mining leases, which cover the northern extent of the prospective Mount Magnet and Youanmi Shear Zones. The project’s principal deposits comprise Andy Well, Turnberry and St Anne’s.
Meeka’s definitive feasibility study for its Murchison gold project was released last December, with its central element being the restart of the fully permitted Andy Well mill.
The study outlines a 10-year production plan up to 76,000 ounces of gold per year at an average rate of 65,000 ounces per year for the first seven years and forecasts an undiscounted pretax free cash flow of $1 billion, a net present value of A$616M and an investment rate of return of 180 per cent.
Site activity is steadily ramping up, with open pit mining now underway prior to first ore being delivered to the plant for commissioning.
The June quarter will also see resource expansion drilling from underground platforms at the high-grade Andy Well mine.
Underground mining from Andy Well is slated to begin towards year’s end and first gold is targeted, appropriately, in time for Christmas.
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By Doug Bright
