Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) is highlighting the growth potential at the Beta Hunt Mine in Western Australia, after delivering a maiden resource estimate for the Fletcher Zone.
The Fletcher Zone contains a resource of 31 million tonnes @ 2.3 grams per tonne gold for 2.3 million ounces. The inclusion of Fletcher Zone’s resource doubles Beta Hunt’s September 2024 resource which totals 30.58 million tonnes @ 2.69g/t golf for 200,647 ounces of gold.
CEO Wayne Bramwell says the results point to the growth potential of Beta Hunt.
“While this is a material milestone for Westgold, it is simply the first step on what is likely to be a multi-decade journey for Fletcher in an expanded Beta hunt mine plan,” Bramwell says.
“Critically, mine life at Beta Hunt today exceeds ten years without any contribution from Fletcher. Mine outputs are lifting from the existing Western Flanks and A Zone mining areas and this improvement provides scope to evaluate the optimum mining and processing strategy for Fletcher, as it represents a transformational opportunity to further expand the scale of Beta Hunt outputs.”
Westgold, which has a market capitalisation of $2.76 billion, has begun drilling to upgrade the current stage one mineral resource, targeting a maiden ore reserve during FY2026.
In parallel, drilling is planned to begin within the Fletcher stage two target area, the northern kilometre of Fletcher, in the first half of FY2026.
Scoping-level work is also underway to determine how best to maximise the value from the resource defined at Fletcher. This work will consider the potential for increases in operational scale that Fletcher offers.
Westgold has also been assaying historical nickel-focused drilling previously conducted by Western Mining Corporation, which intersected the Mason Zone but was not assayed for gold. The company aims to accelerate the understanding of this area.
Westgold Resources is an Australian gold producer with a portfolio of projects in the Murchison and Southern Goldfields regions of Western Australia.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Westgold Resources
