Red 5 will begin open pit production at its Great Western satellite deposit early next year, as the company ramps down operations at its King of the Hills goldmine.
Red 5 will begin open pit production at its Great Western satellite deposit early next year, as the company ramps down operations at its King of the Hills goldmine.
Ore feed from Great Western will fill the production gap at KOTH, with Red 5 planning for a new 4 million tonnes per annum bulk mining and processing operation – in line with the company’s recently completed feasibility study.
Red 5 has also contracted Emeco Holdings to complete underground mining work at Great Western – about six months after purchasing the 62,000-ounce deposit from Terrain Minerals for $2.5 million.
Great Western forms part of Red 5’s Darlot Mining Hub strategy.
The deposit sits about 55 kilometres from the Darlot mill, where ore will be trucked for processing.
Red 5, after a recent drilling program, has updated the mineral resource estimate for Great Western to 870,000 tonnes at 2.5 grams per tonne of gold for 70,300 ounces of contained gold – representing a 13 per cent increase on the previous estimate.
The maiden open pit ore reserve stands at 437,500t at 2.5g/t Au for 35,424oz.
Managing director Mark Williams said the Great Western deposit had emerged as a strong source of satellite ore feed for the company’s Darlot mining operations.
“Importantly, this will also provide a platform from which to pursue a potential longer-term underground mining operation,” he said.
“We are looking forward to seeing results from deeper reverse circulation drilling designed to test high-grade gold mineralisation in deeper parts of the Great Western deposit, which currently remains open.”
Red 5 has begun studies for underground mining at Great Western, which will begin after the open pit mining is complete.
Emeco’s Pit N Portal business will begin open pit mining works at Great Western in January – the subsidiary’s first open cut mining project.
Pit N Portal says it will use existing equipment in the Emeco fleet to complete the works.
Chief executive of Pit N Portal, Steve Versteegen, said the business would target more open cut operations projects.
“This project allows Pit N Portal to perform the open cut operations for Darlot goldmine and provides an opportunity for Pit N Portal to continue with Red 5 when it reviews the potential for an underground accessed via a portal at the base of the pit,” he said.
“This opportunity widens the value proposition of Pit N Portal as we target working with customers in their open cut operations and then continuing to support them as they go underground.”
The Maddington-based business was acquired by Emeco in January this year for $72 million.
Emeco managing director Ian Testrow said the business was seeking to expand its service offering.
“This [Great Western] is a significant project for both Emeco and Pit N Portal and we look forward to demonstrating Pit N Portal’s capability in the open cut mining space,” he said.
Emeco shares were down 1.2 per cent at 2:24pm AEST to trade at 82 cents, while Red 5 was trading 2.4 per cent higher to 30 cents.
