JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – With both its Pickstone-Peerless mine, in Zimbabwe, and its Manaila mine, in Romania, now in production, Aim-listed Vast Resources was “firmly on track to build a significant cash generative mining company,” says CEO Roy Pitchford.
The company on Wednesday said production had started at the 584 ha Pickstone-Peerless mine, with the first gold smelt having produced 8.5 kg of gold bullion for delivery to the Fidelity refinery in Harare.
The mine had a current Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 62-million tonnes grading 1.8 g/t, containing 3.56-million ounces of gold. Included in this resource was an openpittable reserve of 16.6-million tons grading 1.9 g/t for 1.02-million ounces.
Initial production was on track at a rate of 10 000 t/m from the opencast oxide gold cap, with an estimated life of six years. During this period, Vast would evaluate the merits of expanding the plant to treat the opencast sulphides at a rate at least double the current monthly volume.
Vast recently completed the maiden sale of about 450 t of copper concentrate produced at its 50.1%-owned Manaila Polymetallic mine, in Romania.