PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX- and TSX-listed gold miner OceanaGold on Wednesday said it was "fully committed" to the continued growth of its operations in the Waihi district, in New Zealand.
President and CEO Michael Holmes said in a statement that despite the five-week cessation of development activities at the Martha underground project, owing to Covid-19 restrictions, the project remained firmly on track for first production in the second quarter of 2021.
“Exploration activities continue at Martha underground with four drill rigs and Wharekirauponga (WKP) with two drill rigs targeting resource conversions and extensions. At WKP we are drilling the East Graben vein and preparing for drilling of both the Western and T-stream veins.
“We continue to advance each of the Waihi district opportunities as part of our plans to realise the significant value potential of Waihi,” he said.
“OceanaGold has one of the most exciting organic growth projects in the gold industry. The New Zealand growth opportunities, along with the future Haile underground, represent not only production growth but also margin growth. We are very excited and remain fully committed to investing in and executing on our organic growth plans on the optimum timeline.”
OceanaGold previously said that the Waihi district is expected to have an initial mine life to 2036, with total growth capital investment estimated at some $447-million over an eight-year period, for four distinct deposits.
At a gold price of A$1 500/oz, the project would have an after-tax internal rate of return of 51% and a net present value of $665-million, while life-of-mine after-tax free cash flow has been estimated at $1.1-billion.
The district study included the Martha underground, WKP, Gladstone openpit and a cutback of the existing Martha openpit operation.