Red River Resources Limited (ASX: RVR) announced that processing has commenced at its Hillgrove Gold Operation in New South Wales.
The company said that mining and trucking activities have started at the Bakers Creek stockpile, with the first ore delivered to Hillgrove ROM Pad on 23 December.
RVR said that the first ore was processed through the Hillgrove Mill on 29 December and the plant is ramping up to steady state production. The company said that the workforce was also increased to 50+.
Hillgrove project
The Hillgrove Project is located approximately 30km from Armidale in New South Wales. Historic mining activity commenced at the site in 1857 and ceased in 1921 and recommenced in 1969.
The Hillgrove Operation was acquired in 2019 and is a key part of RVR’s strategy to build a multi-asset operating business focused on base and precious metals.
The Hillgrove Gold Operation is as a residential site, with the majority of the workforce residing in Armidale and the surrounding area.
Office facilities
Hillgrove has all the office facilities required for operations, including an administration office, mining operations offices, maintenance offices, workshops (heavy vehicle, light vehicle, and boilermaker’s workshops), process plant offices, metallurgical laboratory building, first aid building, stores warehouse, and core shed and yard.
Processing plant
The Hillgrove site includes a 250ktpa capacity processing plant, comprising a selective flotation circuit (capable of producing antimony-gold and refractory gold concentrates), an antimony leach/EW/refining & casting plant, a gold cyanide leach circuit & gold room plus a pressure oxidation circuit.
Power supply
All of Hillgrove’s electricity requirements are sourced from a 66kva grid connected power supply from Ergon Energy with 11kva site power reticulation. Water is sourced from storage dams and underground workings.
Hillgrove deposits
Red River controls the known Hillgrove Mineral Field, which hosts more than 200 known gold-antimony (Au-Sb) deposits. The majority of these deposits are steeply dipping vein systems within NW to WNW striking fracture systems, where the vein systems transition to gold dominant at depth with increasing levels of free gold. All known vein systems are open at depth.
Mineral resource
The Mineral Resource is contained within 6 key hubs in the Hillgrove Mineral Field: Metz Centre, Bakers Creek, Brackins Spur, Eleanora/Garibaldi, Freehold, and Clarks Gully.
To date, Hillgrove has produced more than 730,000 ounces of gold (in bullion and concentrates), more than 50,000 tonnes of antimony (as metal and in concentrates) plus material amounts of by-product tungsten (in concentrates). The Hillgrove Gold Project has a substantial high-grade JORC 2012 Compliant Mineral Resource of 5.0Mt @ 4.3 g/t Au & 1.5% Sb (6.4 g/t Au Eq.) (692koz gold & 75kt antimony).
Production commences at Hillgrove
The company announced that it has now begun production at the Hillgrove Gold-Antimony Project near Armidale in New South Wales.
Mining and trucking activities at Baker’s Creek
The company reported that the Bakers Creek stockpile mining and trucking activities have commenced with the first ore delivered to Hillgrove ROM Pad on December 23, 2020.
First ore processed
RVR reported that the first ore was delivered and processed through the Hillgrove Mill on December 29 and the plant is ramping up to steady-state production.
Workforce increased
The company said that the workforce was increased to 50+ since commencing the production at the Hillgrove Gold Operation.