Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) is moving towards “high-grade gold production” at the Reward Underground Mine in New South Wales after sourcing 500 tonnes of ore from the first two stoping blocks.
Ore will be processed at the Amalgamated portal, with the tonnage both blasted and bogged since the ventilation fan was commissioned on 21 August.
Broken stocks from the underground mine include 200 tonnes returning 5.4 grams per tonne from the 1325 strip, with the remaining 300 tonnes still awaiting grades from the 1438 stope area and 1555 decline strip.
Vertex intends to encourage operational flexibility in initial production efforts, extending a strike length of 400m, with 1720 stopes being set up to the northern end from a 1555 decline.
The Mica 1 and 2 veins are Vertex’s priority targets for ore production, running parallel to each other 2m apart.
Stoping methods the company is employing include airleg gallery and shrink stoping, jumbo cut and fill stoping, and narrow vein longhold open stoping. These mining methods intend to diversify risk while also maximising the head grade.
Since its first blast of producing gold ore on the Lady Belmore Reef, Vertex has been feeding material to the gravity processing plant and hitting operational milestones including the installation of an 11kilovolt-ampere to 1,000 volt Transformer Substation, as reported by Mining.com.au.
Material feed intends to replace the lower-grade ore to host a 100% higher grade feed rate over the next couple of weeks.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Vertex Minerals
