Kalamazoo Resources Ltd (ASX:KZR) has outlined a multi-year growth strategy for its 1.44-million-ounce Ashburton Gold Project in Western Australia, highlighting significant brownfields and greenfields exploration potential extending well beyond the scope of its recently completed Mt Olympus Scoping Study.
The project, located 35 kilometres south-east of Paraburdoo along the Nanjilgardy Fault Zone, hosts a 2023 mineral resource estimate of 16.2 million tonnes at 2.8 g/t gold for 1.44 million ounces across the Mt Olympus, Peake, Waugh and Zeus deposits, with Mt Olympus accounting for about three-quarters of the total resource base.
Ashburton Gold Project (red polygons) geology map showing the location of historical mines, prospects and gold resource estimates plus the newly acquired Xanadu Project tenements (green polygons).
A re-optimisation of the Mt Olympus underground resource at a gold price of A$4,500 per ounce has defined 1.44 million tonnes at 3.76 g/t for 174,500 ounces, while an additional underground exploration target of 350,000–500,000 ounces at 2.0–3.8 g/t gold has been outlined beneath the Mt Olympus–West Olympus open pit shell. These ounces are not included in the current Scoping Study.
“Kalamazoo is pleased to outline its growth vision for the Ashburton Gold Project, centred on a proposed multi-year production strategy backed through delineation and potential development from existing brownfields resource expansion and greenfields exploration programs," Kalamazoo's executive chairman, Luke Reinehr, said.
"This vision includes the potential near-term development of the Mt Olympus open pit, opportunities to extend mine life by advancing underground and open pit resources at Mt Olympus, Peake and Zeus, and longer-term resource growth through new discoveries—such as at the Waugh open pit and other prospects across the ~380km² Ashburton–Xanadu project area. With a dominant 100%-owned land position in a highly prospective region, a history of shallow oxide targeting, systems-scale exploration approach, and newly acquired geophysical datasets, Kalamazoo has identified multiple exploration targets that underpin this high-conviction growth plan.”
Development scenario
Released on November 5, the Mt Olympus Study outlines a development scenario producing about 524,000 ounces over a 73-month mine life at all-in sustaining costs of A$2,183 per ounce. The preferred flowsheet is a 1.5 million tonne per annum crush–grind–flotation circuit generating a ~25 g/t gold concentrate at 86% recovery. Pre-production capital is estimated at A$208 million with a payback period of about 23 months. At a base gold price of A$4,500/oz, pre-tax free cash flow is estimated at A$747 million, rising to A$1.396 billion at A$6,000/oz, with the project’s NPV8% increasing from A$423 million to A$842 million and IRR from 47% to 74%.
Brownfields upside is centred on the ~7-kilometre Mt Olympus Corridor, where existing resources include 210,000 ounces at 3.4 g/t gold at Peake, 121,000 ounces at 2.5 g/t at Zeus and 32,000 ounces at 1.9 g/t at Waugh. Kalamazoo’s drilling has also delivered thick, moderate- to high-grade intercepts beneath and along strike from the Waugh pit and at the Annie Oakley prospect, where mineralisation remains open and largely untested at depth.
Expanded landholding
In addition to the mining leases, Kalamazoo has expanded its landholding through the acquisition of the 142.4 km² Xanadu Gold Project, which lies contiguous with and along strike to the south. Xanadu hosts several mineralised zones, including dolomite-hosted “Carlin-style” targets and Mt McGrath Formation prospects, supported by historical drilling and small-scale mining at the Amphitheatre open pit during the 1990s.
Kalamazoo’s exploration framework will also draw on a newly acquired, district-scale ground gravity dataset collected during an earlier option period by De Grey Mining, now part of Northern Star Resources.
The company plans to launch a Mt Olympus pre-feasibility study in the December quarter of 2025, advance resource-growth drilling and pit-optimisation work, and implement further brownfields and greenfields drilling across both Ashburton and Xanadu while continuing stakeholder and regulatory engagement.