In its bulk sample mining operation, WA-focused gold developer Classic Minerals mined 1011 ounces of gold from its Kat Gap deposit, 170km south of Southern Cross in WA. The precious metal is currently sitting in its stockpile of 6504 tonnes of ore grading 4.82 grams per tonne gold and will be used to dial in the company’s mobile gecko gold plant once it is assembled.
Classic’s Kat Gap deposit of 93,000 ounces grading 2.96 g/t gold is the highest-grade contributor to the company’s total gold inventory of just over 400,000 ounces.
On the 10th of June 2021, Classic’s trial mining operation received approval from the state regulator to excavate a maximum of 49,000t from Kat gap with the work primarily aimed at fine-tuning the processing plant and optimising pit design whilst ultimately milking as much gold out of the high-grade deposit as possible.
For its sample, Classic was targeting between 3000 and 5000t of ore at a grade between 4 and 6 g/t gold, containing between 350 and 1000 ounces of gold.
The developer managed to push its trial to within a mere 30 tonnes of its limit, providing it with a substantial amount of test ore to make use of before launching headfirst into sustained production.
The waste and ore have been stockpiled separately and advanced metallurgical testing of the oxide ore is underway.
In addition to optimising its processing methods, the trial mining also allowed Classic an opportunity to test its open pit mine design – a factor of arguably equal importance when it comes to a profitable mining operation.
The mining of the bulk sample was finalised on the 5th of May 2022 and Classic is currently progressing geological and engineering studies to aid final pit design work.
The gold-rich ore zone came within 6m of the surface and was mined down to a vertical depth of 15m. The ore zone of about 5m in width was mined over a strike length of 50m.
Management says the ore was easily distinguished from the waste material during mining mainly due to the alteration.
Both the footwall and hanging wall contacts were defined, allowing for easy extraction with minimal dilution.
It was also moderately thicker on the pit floor than predicted by the resource block model.
Whilst the meticulous pre-production trials work to defer any full-scale operations, it will be interesting to see if working smarter rather than harder pays off for Classic.
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By Matt Birney
