Wiluna Mining Centre
Wiluna is a world-class gold system that was first discovered in 1897 and grew to become one of the largest gold mining operations in the British Empire by the 1930’s. Gold was initially mined from the extensive quartz reef system before the focus shifted to the rich sulphide zones 60m or more below surface. The mine was closed at the end of World War II and was not reopened until the 1980’s, when the advent of ‘carbon-in-leach’ (CIL) and BIOX® processing technology led to renewed open pit and underground mining.
Wiluna Central Mining Area
With a 7Moz gold JORC 2012 Mineral Resource, the scale of the Wiluna orebody rivals that of world-class systems. Expansion ‘under the head frame’ at the Wiluna Mine, targeting high-grade gold shoots to 1,000 metres below the surface would unlock the true potential of the Wiluna Mine. The Wiluna Central Mine Area includes the Wiluna Mine with its large sulphide resource at Bulletin, Happy Jack, East Lode, Woodley, Burgundy, Calvert and Essex.
Wiluna Central Mine Area also includes Regent and the Quartz Reef deposits of Golden Age, Galaxy, and Monarch. Presently, the Wiluna Central Mine Area has a JORC Mineral Resource of 6.1Moz @ 3.54g/t with an underground Mineral Resources of 38.37mt at 4.01g/t Au for 4.9 million ounces based on A$3,250/oz gold price and a 1.85g/t cut-off, including the Measured and Indicated categories of 10.5Mt @at 3.31 g/t for 1.44Moz near existing infrastructure.
The Company is developing a re-start plan focused on achieving 750kt of ore production from underground, open pit and toll treating sources, producing a gold concentrate for a three-year period and establishing a consistent operation and stable cost base.
The strategy looks to maximise the benefit of the newly constructed gold concentrator, the established tails retreatment processing and demonstrate the successful mining of the significant underground Mineral Resource.
Lower strip ratio and smaller waste pre-strip open pits will be targeted to provide supplementary ore feed to achieve the 750kt per annum production rate during a period of re-establishing underground production at 750kt per annum.
Aerial shot of the Concentrator prior to commissioning
Rougher Flotation Circuit
Cleaner & Scavenger Flotation Circuits
REGENT
Regent, which is located 8kms south of the Wiluna Mining Centre, is a very exciting prospect showing potential to be a very large gold system.
The area surrounding Regent is historically poorly tested owing to 30-50m of concealing cover sediments. The deposit is open all directions, with drilling planned to target down-dip and along strike extensions.
Regent is overlain by 30m of calcrete and the underlying profile is deeply weathered, with oxide and transitional mineralisation encountered to 60-80m below the surface, and sulphides at greater depths. The calcrete cover sequence has hindered past exploration as there is no obvious gold geochemical signature to guide drilling. However, high-resolution aeromagnetic imagery has revealed favourable bedrock structures in the Regent area for drill testing.
Resource Definition drilling is planned to define oxide and free-milling mining inventory, gather geological and environmental sample to progress government approval and test the potential for a larger gold system at depth.
KEY POINTS:
- 01 Wiluna is a world class gold system with a 7Moz gold Mineral Resource.
- 02 The Wiluna Central Mine Area includes the Wiluna Mine with its large sulphide resources at Bulletin, Happy Jack, East Lode and other deposits.
- 03 The Wiluna Central Mine Area also includes Regent and the Quartz Reef deposits of Golden Age, Galaxy, and Monarch.
- 04 The Wiluna Central Mining Area has a current JORC Mineral Resource of underground Mineral Resources of 38.37mt at 4.01g/t Au for 4.9 million ounces.
- 05 The company is developing a re-start plan focused on achieving ~750kt of ore production from underground, open pit and toll treatment sources, producing a gold concentrate for a three-year period and establishing a consistent operation and stable cost base.
- 06 The strategy looks to maximise the benefit of the newly constructed gold concentrator, the established tails retreatment processing and demonstrate the successful mining of the significant multi-million-ounce Mineral Resource.
- 07 Lower strip ratio and smaller waste pre-strip open pits will be targeted to provide supplementary ore feed to achieve the 750kt per annum production rate during a period of re-establishing underground production at 750kt per annum.
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