Westgold Resources managing director Wayne Bramwell has described the company’s latest ore reserve increase as “transformational”.
The miner today announced it has uncovered a 107 per cent increase in ore reserves at its Bluebird – South Junction deposit, part of the Meekatharra operations in the Murchison region of Western Australia.
Bramwell said Westgold has now boosted the mine’s resource by 400 per cent in the last year.
“Drilling continues to transform our business, and across the Bluebird-South Junction mining complex we have not yet defined the limits of this ever-expanding system,” Bramwell said.
“With scale comes the opportunity to reduce costs with mine studies to-date showing that the South Junction deposit lends itself to a lower-cost, bulk extraction mining method that will deliver higher ounces-per-vertical metre – underpinning its potential to be a highly effective mining operation on the doorstep of our Meekatharra process plant.
“With multiple surface and underground drill rigs operating, Westgold is confident we will continue to extend and infill the mineral resource to further increase the life and expand the scale of this key growth driver in the Murchison.”
The latest increase in ore reserves brings the deposit’s total to a 7.2 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) potential, boasting a contained 573,000 ounces of gold.
As further drilling programs get underway, Westgold is progressing mining studies focused on maximising orebody extraction once mining kicks off.
In the meantime, new drill targets are already being identified and sequenced nearby, including Great Northern Highway, Romsey and Ironbark.
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