New gold producer Calidus Resources has poured the first gold bar from its carbon in leach circuit, marking the successful commissioning of a full processing circuit at its Warrawoona gold project in WA.
A total of 33kg of gold was poured with the company’s gold production now scheduled to ramp up to about 90,000 ounces per year in stage one.
The processing plant is fully operational and has achieved milling rates of 2.2 million tonnes per annum with the full ramp-up to 2.4Mtpa expected to be completed this quarter.
Calidus Resources Managing Director, David Reeves says: “We are increasing throughput and gold output with the aim of reaching full production rates this quarter.”
“Over the remainder of the quarter, we will focus on our operational ramp-up and other site activities including our active exploration programmes that have taken place during the course of development.”
The company achieved producer status earlier in May by pouring a maiden gold bar from its gravity circuit. The latest bars come from leach and elution circuits where most of the production will be derived.
Gold producers will typically run ore through a centrifugal concentrator to separate out the gold recoverable by gravity before running it through the sequential leach and elution processes.
Calidus hit the ASX boards in mid-2017 as a Perth-based gold explorer intent on growing its base of 410,000 ounces grading 2.2 grams per tonne gold into a standalone gold-production centre.
Within 18 months of operating, the explorer managed to “effectively triple” its resource base to 1.25 million ounces.
The company began mining ore back in August 2021 and processing nine months later in April 2022.
Interestingly, Calidus is the ASX’s latest gold producer followed by Capricorn Metals also in the Pilbara.
The producer also holds additional gold and lithium interests in WA’s Pilbara region.
Calidus plans to release a definitive feasibility study on its high-grade Blue Spec gold project, located within trucking distance of Warrawoona.
In September 2020, the explorer acquired the project for $19.5m in cash and now the company is aiming to use it to increase production at Warrawoona from about 100,000 to 139,000 ounces of gold per annum.
In terms of lithium, Calidus plans to start drilling its Spear Hill prospect, 50km southwest of Marble Bar within a few weeks.
All commodities have been on a wild ride since the geopolitical tensions in Europe began to boil over. In particular, the price of gold surged to a new all-time high in March of around US$2050.
The US Geological Survey says that in the first nine months of 2021 the global consumption of gold in physical bars increased by about 58 per cent and in jewellery by 49 per cent.
Whilst March’s heated prices have somewhat cooled to about US$1825, it is still a good time to be pouring bars as gold has advanced 72 per cent since its decade low of about US$1060 in December 2015.
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By Matt Birney
