Australian gold producer Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) reports it has surpassed the milestone of 250,000 ounces of gold mined at the Fortnum Gold Operation in Western Australia.
The company says it commenced mining at Fortnum in 2017 with a simple 3-phase restart plan underpinned by the Starlight underground mine which mitigated risk and commercial exposure.
It states Fortnum has ‘consistently’ met budgeted production targets and delivered returns for Westgold with $84 million of free cash flow generated to date at an all in cost of $1,787 per ounce.
Westgold Managing Director Wayne Bramwell says: “Fortnum is a profitable operation that consistently delivers for our shareholders. Reaching a quarter of a million ounces of gold mined under Westgold management is a significant project milestone and a credit to Fortnum’s entire operating team.
“Reaching a quarter of a million ounces of gold mined under Westgold management is a significant project milestone and a credit to Fortnum’s entire operating team”
The efficient and low-cost Starlight underground mine is key to Fortnum’s success and building on its success, an aggressive 2 rig drilling campaign is now focused on extending the future of this highly efficient and valuable operation.”
The Fortnum Operation is located in the Bryah Basin of Western Australia around 140km north of Meekatharra and is centred upon the 0.9 million tonnes per annum Fortnum processing plant which the company says can be fed from the resource hosted over its tenure at the Fortnum, Horseshoe and Peak Hill mineral fields.
The project was first developed during the 1980s after regional reconnaissance work conducted by Homestake Gold Mines discovered gold mineralisation in outcrop at Tom’s Hill, and following this Homestake mined the Trev’s, Dougie’s and Twilight deposits from 1989 to 1993.
Westgold reports the Starlight underground mine is currently Fortnum’s dominant feed source, supplying 90% of all processed tonnes with the additional 10% of ore sourced from surface stockpiles to assist with mill optimisation.
The company says its Fortnum 2017 restart plan was a simple, phased approach moving from commissioning on historic stockpiles, to mining 2 open pits during the dewatering and rehabilitation of the Starlight underground, before moving to predominantly underground operations once Starlight had reached steady state.
Since operations commenced in 2017, Westgold reports it has produced around 190,000 ounces of gold from the Starlight underground mine, around 50,000 ounces from the Yarlarweelor open pit and the balance of the 250,000 ounces mined from the Tom’s and Sam’s open pit.
When combined with historic open pit production under previous owners, the company says Starlight’s total production is greater than 700,000 ounces and is likely to surpass the 750,000 mined ounces milestone in the coming financial year.
Westgold reports the incremental plant expansion announced in June is underway and drill testing of the Labouchere resource announced at the same time has been completed. The drill results at Labouchere will shortly be incorporated into a resource model update.
The company also states it is continuing to review options for additional underground operations and open pit campaigns that could underwrite a future expansion of the Fortnum processing plant.
Currently 3 underground rigs are focused upon extensional and resource definition programs within the Starlight mine. Several open pit and underground mining options exist proximal to the processing plant within the Fortnum mineral field.
Westgold also reports the satellite Horseshoe-Cassidy-Pod mine is development ready and the Peak Hill mineral field is currently undergoing both resource development evaluation and exploration review.
Westgold is a gold exploration and development company operating in the goldfields of outback Western Australia. The company holds over 1,300km-square of tenements across the Murchison and Bryah Basin and currently operates 6 underground mines, several open pits and 3 processing plants across its Murchison, Cue, Meekatharra and Fortnum gold operations.
Images: Westgold Resources Ltd
