Blackham Resources Ltd (ASX:BLK) has begun open pit mining at the Wiluna Gold Mine in Western Australia, initially targeting shallow free-milling ore close to the processing plant.
Mining last took place at Wiluna a decade ago and its restart reflects Blackham’s 2018 mine plan which aims to mine the remaining Matilda open pits concurrently with those at Wiluna.
Drilling programs totalling 100,000 metres undertaken at Wiluna over the past 18 months have delineated gold resources of 18.6 million tonnes at 2.52 g/t gold for 1.5 million ounces.
Open pit probable reserves are 7.7 million tonnes at 2.7 g/t for 669,000 ounces and will be updated in a Matilda-Wiluna reserve re-estimation currently underway.
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Drilling completed since March this year has focused on the shallow free-milling mineralisation which holds a 96%-indicated 5.1 million tonne resource at 1.43 g/t for 236,000 ounces.
Oxide and transitional ore in the top 60-80 metres has been oxidised and comprises the bulk of the free-milling ore.
Metallurgical work on the oxide and transitional ores averaged leach recoveries of 90.8% and 84.3% after 24 hours.
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Blackham expects the Wiluna restarts to increase plant feed grade, reduce haulage costs and substantially reduce mine-sequencing risks due to more mining areas.
Mining the free-milling pits will also reduce both geological and mining risks associated with the larger sulphide pits prior to recommissioning the Wiluna plant sulphide circuit.
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The Wiluna-Matilda Gold Operation now includes 96 million tonnes at 2.2 g/t for 6.7 million ounces all within 20 kilometres of the central processing facility.
Blackham has consolidated the entire Wiluna goldfield within a plus-1,100 square kilometre tenement package which has produced more than 4.4 million ounces over a 120-year mining history.