Dacian Gold Ltd (ASX:DCN) has begun underground ore development at the Beresford North target within its Mt Morgans operations near Laverton in Western Australia.
Beresford North is the second production decline of the Westralia Mine area after Beresford South, which first accessed the Westralia underground ore body in late 2017.
The Beresford and Allanson deposits are beneath the 1.4-kilometre long, previously mined Westralia open pit.
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The Beresford North lode was observed in drilling as a sulphidised banded iron formation (BIF) unit.
The BIF lies between competent basalt footwall and hanging-wall stratigraphies.
Previous infill diamond drilling undertaken at Beresford North produced significant assays including: 26.1 metres at 3.1 g/t gold from 657.6 metres; 6.6 metres at 9.8 g/t from 500 metres; 1.8 metres at 8.8 g/t from 510.4 metres; and 3.6 metres at 7.7 g/t from 549.5 metres.
On-track for commercial production
Dacian remains confident that Mt Morgans will achieve commercial production in late 2019 based on the Westralia underground mine contributing around 3,000 tonnes per day of high-grade ore.
Under Dacian’s production plan, each of the three production declines at Westralia will produce an average of 1,000 tonnes per day.
The Allanson decline is the third production decline at Westralia and is scheduled to start ore development later in 2018.
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The June quarter was the first operational quarter of Mt Morgans and the operation achieved a daily mill throughput rate of 6,600 tonnes.
Average gold recovery of 90.9% and average combined treatment grade of 1.9 g/t gold resulted in a total of 34,155 ounces produced.
Beresford South was a significant contributor to Dacian’s maiden quarterly production with an average daily ore production during the quarter of 1,400 tonnes per day.
Dacian’s key focus for the remainder of the year is to complete the ramp-up to commercial production.
The company will also maintain an aggressive exploration spend as it believes Mt Morgans will continue to yield new discoveries that will increase mine life and company value.