Galena Mining Ltd (ASX:G1A) has been granted a general purpose (GP) lease for all of the planned mine processing facilities and supporting infrastructure for its Abra Base Metal Project in Western Australia.
Galena is currently undertaking a pre-feasibility study (PFS) that is investigating the economic viability of the Abra lead-silver-copper-gold deposit in the Gascoyne region.
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Galena chief executive officer Ed Turner said: ”The granting of our GP lease is significant in that it provides security over the area adjoining the granted mining lease, which contains the Abra Deposit, and enables us to expedite planning towards production.
“The PFS is on track towards completion in September”.
Process engineering is a significant component of the PFS and having a permitted area for the associated infrastructure further de-risks the project.
Galena continues work towards bringing its world-class base metal project into development in 2019.
A critical component of the project development is the location of the site processing infrastructure, as well as associated infrastructure such as administration, mine camp and airstrip, and the granting of the GP is a significant step given it will include all of these facilities.
The opportunity to locate these facilities immediately adjacent to the mining operation offers significant efficiencies and savings.
The proximity to gazetted Shire of Meekatharra roads (Ashburton – Meekatharra and Tangadee Roads) is also a significant benefit and cost saving on logistics.
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Other PFS components are well advanced and on track for completion in September 2018.
These include mining studies covering scheduling, production ramp-up and rates as well as the ongoing infill drilling.
The infill drilling continues with the aim of converting additional tonnes of inferred resources to indicated resources.
To date, an additional 10 holes for 5,863 metres have been completed out of 15 planned holes. Assay results for these holes will be released in the coming months as will an updated resource estimate.