Meeka Metals is gearing up for gold mining to begin in March after significant progress has been made with its processing infrastructure and accommodation village at the company’s Murchison gold project in WA.
The company’s much larger “game-changing” processing plant equipment is on site now and expected to dramatically increase its pre-feasibility numbers (PFS) in the upcoming definitive-feasibility-study (DFS) due in December.
The company recently revealed the extent to which the much larger ball-mill and new leach and adsorption tanks will have on the economics of the gold project.
The expansion of the processing mill capacity will enable the company to feed it with various additional sources of mineralised ore comprising more than 100,000 gold-ounces and grading between 1.3 grams per tonne and 3.3g/t gold.
The additional ore sources were initially excluded from the PFS due to mill capacity restraints but can now be fed into the larger processing circuit. Management expects the upcoming DFS to positively reflect the improvements to its numbers resulting from the upgraded facilities.
Meeka says considerable work has now taken place at the Murchison project, with near completion of the accommodation village, its 750kW ball mill equipment has been relocated to site and foundational work completed. The company’s carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant expansion work is also underway.
The foundations have also now been laid for its leach and adsorption tanks and work is progressing on the fabrication of the tank skin.
In-ground works on the administration complex have also begun and the company expects to begin full commissioning of the 136-person village in December.
Meeka Metals managing director Tim Davidson said: “With the accommodation village nearing completion our workforce also continues to grow with high quality candidates joining the team as we rapidly advance toward first gold in mid2025. Looking ahead this trend is expected to continue as we build out our mining and processing teams over the coming months.”
The company is in the final stage of contract negotiations with its preferred mining contractor after a competitive tender process. It expects to award the contract in December and anticipates mining to begin onsite in March.
A vital piece of infrastructure is the 20km haul road that will provide the important link between the open-pit mining area and the processing plant.
Meeka has so far completed 10,937m of a 15,000m grade control drill-program at its high-grade oxide starter-pits Turnberry and St Anne’s, which will allow for assay updates to be incorporated into the grade control model prior to the mining contractor’s mobilisation.
The grade control drilling has been prioritised ahead of the Turnberry underground expansion drilling.
Turnberry underground drilling has begun with five holes completed to determine the depth of mineralised extensions below the open pit as Meeka looks to expand its future underground production plan.
Drilling will restart there when the grade control drilling is complete.
The company’s flagship Murchison project sits on a combined 281-square-kilometre area and hosts a 1.23 million-ounce mineral resource grading a solid 3g/t gold on granted mining leases.
Situated in WA’s Mid West region, the Murchison project consists of three deposits with resources.
St Anne’s has a gold resource of 40,000 ounces going at more than 3 g/t, Turnberry is sitting on a 685,000-ounce gold resource grading 2g/t and Andy Well contains a serious gold grade of 8.6g/t for an impressive 505,000 ounces.
Meeka is motoring full-steam ahead with its Murchison play and will soon join the ranks of Australia’s gold-producing firms at a time when the underlying price is going gangbusters, which may provide for a very profitable operation.
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By Craig Nolan
