Wiluna acquisition ‘slashes years’ off Matilda timetable - Blackham chair
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior gold developer Blackham Resources has signed a deal to acquire the Wiluna gold project from embattled miner Apex Minerals for A$4.6-million.
The first A$2-million of the acquisition cost would be an up-front payment, with the remaining A$2.6-million deferred until production payments equated to around $1/oz of gold resource.
The ASX-listed junior would also take on the remaining rehabilitation obligations over the Wiluna project and would replace the A$3.26-million in environmental bonds on transfer of the mining lease.
Blackham chairperson Joseph Gutnick said on Monday that the acquisition of the Wiluna plant and infrastructure was a major step towards bringing the company’s own Matilda gold project closer to production.
“The acquisition of the plant saves Blackham millions of dollars in development costs for the Matilda gold project, and will slash years off our development timetable, both of which should be a significant win to Blackham’s shareholder returns going forward.”
The Wiluna gold project covers 44 km2 of tenement and 10 km of strike along the Wiluna mine sequence. Combined, the Matilda and Wiluna projects would have a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 40-million tonnes, grading 3.3 g/t gold for 4.3-million ounces.
Operations at Wiluna were suspended in June last year, as Apex went into administration after failing to raise A$1-million in capital to resolve operational issues at the mine.
Gutnick said that Blackham would refurbish and recommission the plant using both ball mills for its free-milling ore. Mining studies and metallurgical testwork to date suggested that the Matilda plant could achieve a 1.5-million tonne a year run rate, for 88 500 oz of gold.
The refractory circuit would be mothballed for possible future use.
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