Gold explorer and developer Greenstone Resources (ASX:GSR) has launched a strategic technical review to assess near-term mining opportunities for its Phillips Find Mining Centre near Coolgardie in Western Australia.
Phillips Find forms part of Greenstone’s Coolgardie Mining Centre — alongside the Burbanks mine — which hosts a global resource of 6.8 million tonnes (Mt) @ 2.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 520,134 ounces of contained gold.
Of this resource, Phillips Find accounts for 700,000t @ 2.3g/t Au for 54,557 ounces of contained gold.
Greenstone Managing Director and CEO Chris Hansen says while a smaller resource than Burbanks, Phillips Find could be a source of near-term cashflow to support future growth.
“While the focus for the company remains the continued growth of the resource base to support a long-life and sustainable operation at Burbanks, the company also believes that it is prudent to assess small-scale near-term production opportunities which may provide a near-term and non-dilutive source of funding to allow the company to fund future exploration and resource growth activities.”
In this vein, Greenstone has engaged an independent mining consultancy to undertake preliminary open-pit optimisations for both Burbanks and Phillips Find, with the company having already received optimisations for the latter.
Greenstone says the optimisation work at Phillips Find was limited to ground within the granted mining leases and consisted of large cutbacks on existing pits. It highlighted the potential to use existing waste dump footprints and road infrastructure for operations.
The company is in early discussions with potential mining and milling partners for Phillips Find and says the opportunity for near-term production is supported by current high gold prices, with the precious metal continuing to trade at around $3,085 per ounce.
Hansen says given an existing Small Mining Permit is already in place for Burbanks North, the company expects to potentially mine this area first while concurrently progressing permitting and development studies for Phillips Find.
Meanwhile, Greenstone is still progressing with a resampling campaign at Burbanks, with 15 of up to 75 holes having been re-logged and sampled and the first batch of assays expected over the next week or two.
“To put this resampling campaign into context, the typical 10,000m drill campaigns previously completed by the company usually resulted in 30-40 holes being drilled.
Importantly, the resampling does not require any further drilling, merely low-cost sampling, and will possibly serve to improve geological continuity and confidence of ore lodes and add future resource ounces.”
As Greenstone works on Burbanks and Phillips find, the company is also planning to imminently release a Scoping Study for its Mt Thirsty project, also in Western Australia, which is currently pending regulatory review.
Write to Joshua Smith at Mining.com.au
Images: Greenstone Resources
