Kaiser Reef (ASX:KAU) is seeking to re-open the Union Hill Gold Mine at Maldon in New South Wales after completing a mine restart study.
The company undertook the study to bring the Union Hill Gold Mine out of care and maintenance to restart exploration and eventually bring it into production.
All financial scenarios are currently being evaluated, as well as establishing a second operating platform at the historical multi-million-ounce gold camp and open-ended orebody.
Kaiser Reef, which has a market capitalisation of $41.43 million, says the restart study highlights potential for an expedited start-up at Union Hill as it has a fully permitted mining licence and will be low capex.
The project sits within close proximity to the Maldon gold processing plant, which is operating at 20% capacity. Union Hill also has established infrastructure, which has been maintained over the past six years.
Managing Director Jonathan Downes says the company is focused on ramping up the A1 Mine while leveraging its 100% ownership of the Maldon Project as a second production centre.
“With no debt, no hedging, and a proven multi-million-ounce high-grade goldfield, Maldon offers a prime opportunity to restart operations quickly, at minimal cost and amid soaring good prices,” Downes says.
“Once in production, Maldon can complement Kaiser’s A1 gold mining operation, strengthening the company’s growth potential.”
Both stage one and two development will facilitate underground drilling programs with the aim to bring the Maldon plant back into a fully operational status with a significant target production rate.
Stage one is expected to be an eight-month program, while stage one is 15 months.
The Maldon goldfield was a major gold producer during the late 1800s through to the early 1990s with over 2.1 million ounces of gold produced. The operation was briefly brought back into production in 2017 but a decreasing gold price of $1,695 per ounce, saw the operations being placed into care and maintenance in 2019.
Since then, Kaiser Reef has kept the mine on care and maintenance since its acquisition in 2021.
Gold’s spot price is currently about $4,092 (US$2,644).
Kaiser Reef is a gold producer and explorer focused on precious metals in the prolific Victorian goldfields.
The Maldon Project has a defined JORC resource of 1.2Mt for 186,000 ounces at 4.4g/t of gold (inferred) from limited shallow drilling. A target resource of between 1.75Mt to 2.7Mt at between 3g/t and 4g/t gold has also been identified, and based on broad spaced drilling that will require further drilling to bring into a JORC category.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Kaiser Reef
