Classic Minerals has received approval to build a key piece of infrastructure for its gold processing plant at the company’s Kat Gap project in the Goldfields with a water pipeline getting the green light.
The water bore is located near the main haul road 1100m from the processing plant that will simplify the pumping process. The pipeline will be placed above ground so limited additional infrastructure will be required.
Classic has permission to take up to 100,000 litres of water annually from the bore which was discovered in July this year after the company hit a substantial body of water in its first exploratory hole at the site.
Work on the pipeline has commenced and is expected to be completed before the end of the year. Plans for additional water bores are already in train.
Kat Gap sits 170km south of Southern Cross and hosts almost 93,000 ounces of gold in an inferred mineral resource of 975,722 tonnes at 2.96 grams per tonne. The project is the highest-grade contributor to the company’s total gold inventory of 403,906 ounces.
Classic has been steadily building towards production at its flagship site over the past six months including receiving final approval from the state regulator earlier in November.
In preparation for production, the gold explorer has already received approval for an account with the Perth Mint for the facilitation of early gold sales.
Classic’s investment in a cost effective modular and mobile Gekko gold processing plant for the ore from its flagship deposit is already paying off in the company’s view with first assays from its pilot plant test exceeding expectations.
The company believes the early results demonstrate the Gekko plant is perfectly suited to Kat Gap style ore and is capable of extracting high levels of gravity gold at a relatively low cost. The plant offers versatility for Classic, allowing it to optimise recovery depending on market conditions, ore competency, ore grade and gold price.
Just last month the explorer kicked off a 3000m 20-hole RC drilling campaign at its flagship deposit to test for down-plunge gold extensions of an undrilled area adjacent to recently reported near-surface hits. Assay results from the RC campaign are expected to start trickling in shortly.
Classic has previously stated that it is looking to have its flagship Kat Gap deposit ready for stage 1 open-pit mining before the end of the year. Classic also expects to start dry-crushing plant commissioning activities before December’s close.
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By Matt Birney
