TSX-V-listed aspiring Pilbara gold producer, Novo Resources, is well on the way to pouring first gold in the first quarter of calendar 2021 from its rapidly developing Beatons Creek gold project adjacent to the town of Nullagine in WA’s East Pilbara region.
The Vancouver-based company says the fast-tracked development of the planned Beatons Creek/Nullagine gold mine, including the refurbishment of the recently purchased nearby Golden Eagle gold treatment plant, continues to progress on schedule and within budget. It is aiming to complete the development in February next year.
On top of the $8.3 million upgrade, maintenance and refurbishment of the conventional gravity-CIL gold processing facility proceeding on time, recent significant milestones also include Novo’s selection of WA-based Iron Mine Contracting, or “IMC” as the preferred surface mining contractor at Beatons Creek. The company is also making solid headway on close-spaced grade control RC drilling.
Novo Resources Chief Executive Officer Rob Humphryson said: “IMC has clearly articulated an intent to work collaboratively with Novo to optimise mining equipment, methods and costs as evidenced by mobilisation of a predominantly new fleet to underpin high levels of productivity and reliability. GR Engineering Services and subcontractors continue to perform an outstanding job with all works continuing safely and to plan.”
According to Novo, GR Engineering is more than one-third through its contract to refurbish the Golden Eagle mill. The 1.5 million-tonnes-per-annum plant, which was only mothballed in December last year, was picked up in Novo’s approximate $130 million cash-and-scrip acquisition of Millennium Minerals this year. In addition, Novo has agreed to pay a 2 per cent gross royalty on gold production capped at $20 million.
The Millennium deal also brought with it a tailings storage dam, power station, administration offices, assay laboratory and a 230-room camp. As a result, it substantially reduces the timeline that would otherwise have been required for the construction of a new gold mining and processing operation from scratch and quickens Novo’s pathway to gold production.
The Beatons Creek conglomerate deposit hosts an indicated and inferred open-pittable and underground mineral resource of 10.94 million tonnes grading 2.65 grams per tonne for 903,000 ounces of contained gold.
Beatons Creek lies approximately 10km north and within comfortable trucking distance of the Golden Eagle gold processing plant.
Novo says the forthcoming transition to gold producer and revenue-generating status will enable it to fuel an organic growth strategy via proposed regional exploration testing several gold targets across its 14,000-square-kilometre tenement holdings in the Pilbara.
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