A major milestone has been achieved at Black Cat Syndicate’s recently acquired 1.2 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) Lakewood gold processing facility in Kalgoorlie.
Black Cat officially took control of the facility from Westgold Resources last month and has spent its first two weeks at the site going from strength to strength, the latest milestone seeing the company pour first gold at the site.
Around 60,000 tonnes (t) of ore from the company’s Myhree deposit have been transported to the Lakewood facility, located less than 40 kilometres from the company’s Kal East gold project in Western Australia.
Unreconciled figures show that 42,000t of ore has been processed at an average grade of 2.10 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, resulting in 2740 ounces (oz) of gold produced.
Since taking ownership of Lakewood, Black Cat has seen a strong start, with the initial gold pour yielding 757oz – surpassing expectations.
“The commencement of processing through Lakewood has started well with throughputs, grade and recoveries all above expectation,” Black Cat managing director Gareth Solly said.
“First gold at Lakewood is yet another successful milestone in the accelerated Kal East plan.
“With an active drilling program now underway, Black Cat enters an exciting period of gold production with substantial exploration potential.”
Surface drilling is currently in progress at Kal East and will continue through to July. Open-pit mining operations at both the Myhree and Boundary sites are scheduled to run until October.
Meanwhile, underground exploration is advancing at the Paulsens project. Seismic drilling is planned at Paulsens West between May and July, with wider regional exploration to follow from June to September.
Black Cat has also secured approval to begin underground mining at the Myhree deposit, with development expected to kick off once open-pit activities wrap up later this year.
The Kal East project covers approximately 650 square kilometres of highly prospective tenements, hosting a resource of 18.8 million tonnes at 2.1g/t gold for a total of 1.29 million ounces.
