Westgold Resources will review its expansion plans for the Higginsville processing plant, after announcing a maiden ore reserve at a critical nearby deposit.
Westgold announced a 1.1-million-ounce reserve at the Fletcher deposit in its Beta Hunt mining complex near Kambalda this morning.
The reserve was based off a mineral resource upgrade to 40.1 million tonnes at 2.3 grams per tonne gold, containing 3 million ounces of gold – a 30 per cent increase on the previous stated resource.
Ore from Fletcher is envisaged as a source feeding the nearby Higginsville gold processing plant, where Westgold recently approved an expansion to 2.6 million tonnes per annum with room to expand to 4Mtpa in future.
But today’s announcement led the company to revisit its plan, and it will now accelerate design work on a 4Mtpa option.
“As a result, Westgold has accelerated definitive design work on a 4Mtpa expansion case and is revieing the optimal timing and scope of the previously approved 2.6Mtpa stage,” the company said in a release to the ASX.
“This does not reflect a reduction in confidence in Higginsville, rather, it reflects a higher-confidence production base at Beta Hunt and Fletcher, and an opportunity to simplify the expansion pathway by assessing whether a direct 4Mtpa development provides a better long-term outcome than a stages 1.6Mtpa to 2.6Mtpa to 4Mtpa sequence.”
Westgold approved the $145 million Higginsville mill expansion decision to 2.6Mtpa in March, with a goal of completing the work in mid-2028.
Westgold said decision to explore an expanded 4Mtpa plant may result in the plant operating at its current throughput rate for longer.
It does not expect material impacts to guidance as a result.
The decision to explore a bigger expansion comes weeks after Westgold managing director Wayne Bramwell endorsed smaller-scale incremental processing upgrades in a competitive market for contractors.
Westgold committed to a $22 million expansion of its Cue processing hub in early August, in a move which will increase the plant’s capacity by around 20 per cent – highlighting its plan a gold space where multiple peers are also seeking to grow.
“Having four existing processing hubs, it's far easier to execute small brownfield expansions on these things than to dive into a much larger greenfield expansion,” Mr Bramwell said at the start of August at the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie.
“I see these incremental capital stems as a bridge as we continue to grow these resources to bigger processing plants – probably new ones – but further in the future, when maybe there's not so much pressure on engineering.”
Today’s announcement could accelerate one of those hubs towards a larger-scale expansion instead, with a finalised study expected towards the end of FY27.
Meanwhile, Westgold has been active in project divestment and portfolio consolidation over the past six months.
In May, the company sold its Chalice gold project to Corazon Mining in a $25.7 million deal.
Earlier that same month, the Peak Hill gold project was sold to Great Boulder Resources in a deal worth $58.3 million.
The Mt Henry-Selene gold project was offloaded to Alicanto Minerals in a $64.4 million in December 2025, the same month the Great Fingall underground mine was returned to production by the mid-tier miner.
The company also spun out Valiant Gold in March this year, in a bid to develop its non-core Reedy’s and Comet brownfields projects in WA Murchison region.
Westgold shares were marginally higher at 12.10pm, at $5.86.
