Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) is progressing the underground development of the Reward Gold Mine and is on track for full production from October 2026.
The company has achieved development rates with 88m of advance and completed an additional 33m of rehabilitation in May 2026.
Gold production in May 2026 totalled 51 ounces sold, with another 26 ounces of gold on hand and available for sale.
Vertex notes that production in May was lower than expected based on the current mine plan, with higher grade ore from airleg stopes beginning processing towards the end of June 2026.
The company’s geology team has created a new structural geology model, which feeds into an updated block model incorporating 30 known gold seams from previous diamond drilling and face sampling.
An updated JORC resource is expected to be released in early July 2026.
Vertex plans to fit new Muki jumbo rails to the existing Epiroc T1D and Atlas Copco H104 jumbo drills by the end of the month. According to the company, this modification will enable the development of narrower drives and increase the gold grades of development.
The company likewise remains on track to receive a Muki long hole rig from Resemin in October 2026 for stoping.
A second Bird underground truck is also under construction; and its expected delivery in late August 2026 is expected to help remove a critical production bottleneck.
Meanwhile, rehabilitation on the declines is continuing across three areas. Decline one requires 115m of rehabilitation, while decline two has 50m remaining. Decline three flatbacking has 6m of development remaining before becoming the first full trial of long hole open stoping.
Another airleg stope will commence production in July 2026 on Paxton’s 677 sublevel, with stopes identified both north and south of the Reward shaft.
Vertex is awaiting determination on its development application to modify working and blasting times, as current restrictions have been identified as “significant” in limiting available underground working hours.
Vertex Minerals is an Australian gold producer, developer, and exploration company.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Vertex Minerals
