ASX-listed Calidus Resources has an eye firmly on becoming Australia’s next gold producer. With “rapid progress” made on several fronts in recent weeks the company says construction at its Warrawoona gold operation in Western Australia’s Pilbara region is now 40 per cent complete ensuring it is well on track for its first gold pour in the first half of next year.
Calidus says blasthole drilling has commenced in parallel with a host of other activities, including construction of the tailings dam, as part of preparations for the imminent start of mining.
The processing plant is also reportedly proceeding on schedule, with the mill and crusher now on site and structural steel deliveries commenced.
Calidus Resources Managing Director Dave Reeves said: “With the commencement of blasthole drilling and construction progressing on time and budget, Calidus can now say with confidence that it will be Australia’s next gold producer. The activity on site is accelerating as the bulk of the civil works is completed at the processing plant, allowing mechanical and structural erection to commence in the near future.”
Warrawoona’s centrepiece Klondyke deposit hosts proved and probable open-pit and underground reserves of 14 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.2 grams per tonne for 521,000 ounces of contained gold.
Klondyke has an overall open-pittable and underground measured, indicated and inferred resource of 42.3 million tonnes of ore going at 1.02 g/t for 1.38 million ounces of contained gold.
Calidus also recently confirmed a round of diamond drilling at its recently acquired high-grade Blue Spec satellite underground gold deposit will provide sufficient samples to advance the metallurgical studies required for a definitive feasibility study. The study is due for completion in the first half of 2022.
Blue Spec, about 70km from Warrawoona, hosts a remnant inferred and indicated mineral resource of 415,000 tonnes of ore grading at an eye-catching 16.35 g/t for 219,000 ounces of contained gold.
The company hopes to bolster production at Warrawoona from a planned 90,000 ounces per annum to an average of 120,000-130,000 ounces per annum for part of the initial eight-year mine life.
Courtesy of Blue Spec’s contribution, pre-tax free cash flows from the Warrawoona gold processing hub come in at $662 million or $82.75 million a year across the eight years.
All-in sustaining costs of gold production are forecast to remain steady at an estimated $1,292 an ounce.
In a region shaping up to be WA’s next premier gold jurisdiction, Calidus holds an impressive 780 sq.km landholding. Exploration to date has identified a further 95 targets of which 22 are considered high priority. Other players in the neighbourhood include Novo Resources with its Nullagine gold mine just down the road and DeGrey Mining with its multi-million-ounce Hemi project continuing to impress the market.
Calidus is in an enviable position as it gears up towards production with gold prices at an all-time high.
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By Matt Birney
