Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) is continuing activities to deliver the first underground gold ore to the gravity gold plant at the Reward Gold Mine in New South Wales, in early Q3 2025.
As such, a revised mine plan and schedule has been received and is being implemented.
The new mine schedule for the underground mine proposes mining two stope blocks consisting of 2,075 tonnes @ 17.8 grams per tonne gold and 700 tonnes @ 42.5g/t gold.
As previously reported, stopes — which are large, excavated spaces where ore is extracted, often in a stepped or layered fashion — are considered suitable for airleg mining which will augment jumbo production.
Vertex, which has a market capitalisation of $51.94 million, says the planned stope width is the same as the interpretation of the mineralisation, which can be exploited as soon as services have been established.
The company’s mining crews are actively developing the adit to make room for the 11 kilovolt-amperes cable, water and air lines.
Further, Vertex has also fully installed and implemented a closed water system at Reward Gold Mine, remaining on track to produce high-grade gold feed.
The company says water use is minimised in the process due to the ore being mostly processed via ore sorting which does not use water.
The Reward Gold Mine sits within the Hill End Project which has a total contained gold resource of 483,000 ounces.
Global gold demand increased by 1.2% year-on-year in 2024 to 4,548 tonnes. The increase in demand was driven by increased investment across bar and coins and exchange traded funds, partly offset by falls in jewellery consumption. Gold consumption is expected to decrease in 2025 to 4,196 tonnes but is projected to rise from 2026 as prices moderate to around 4,500 tonnes per year in 2030.
Vertex Minerals will be attending the Noosa Mining Investor Conference, held between 23-25 July, at the Peppers Noosa Resort.
Mining.com.au is an official media partner of this year’s conference.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Vertex Minerals
