White Rock Minerals Ltd (ASX:WRM, OTCQX:WRMCF) has passed a major milestone by becoming the newest ASX-listed gold producer after the re-commissioning of the processing plant at Morning Star Underground Gold Mine in Victoria, Australia.
To date, the company has completed three campaigns treating existing low-grade gold stockpiles, achieving nameplate throughputs between seven and nine tonnes per hour (tph) and treating about 1,700 tonnes of material.
As well as representing a major step for White Rock, this also sees the restart of production at the historical project.
Looking ahead, with the successful completion of this commissioning step, gold processing will now swing onto the higher-grade gold feed material recently mined and delivered to the surface.
Production restart
White Rock MD and CEO Matt Gill said: “Our team on site has done a fantastic job to get to this point in the mine’s restart of gold production, safely and on time.
“Our recent aggressive drilling campaign identified an initial five reefs for mining above 9 Level, despite some 500,000 ounces of gold having already been produced from this area and many claiming that the old-timers mined it all.
“The team has done a tremendous job to manage the drill program, identify the complex gold reef structures that exist, guide the mining to access these reefs and now deliver high-grade tonnes to the surface for gold extraction processing.
“This is the first step in the re-opening of the Morning Star Gold Mine, which has historically produced more than 800,000 ounces of gold.
“We are proud to be able to continue the legacy of operating this famous mine, that continues to deliver."
Objectives
White Rock’s primary objective at the Morning Star Gold Mine is a low-capital cost restart of gold production from multiple reef locations.
Notably, the company recovered gold concentrate during the campaigns to produce gold doré bars for sale.
Initial gold production was delivered on time in the June quarter with further gold dore to now continue as more higher-grade gold reefs are mined and processed through the gold processing plant.
Gill added: “We look forward to now ramping up production as we recruit more personnel, develop more reefs and increase the team on-site to process this increasing volume of material.
“We wait with anticipation to realise increasing volumes of gold dore production as the higher-grade material is mined from underground and processed.
“On our projections, we expect the gold grades from underground will place White Rock in the top five of high-grade gold mines in Australia.”
Rapid pathway to gold production
Morning Star’s existing infrastructure (shaft, headframe and winder, dewatering system and off shaft development), and a functional gold processing plant have provided White Rock with a rapid pathway to gold production
This allows the company to leapfrog many of the issues associated with a company going from explorer to producer - the time to achieve the necessary approvals and permits, supply chain challenges, ordering and delivering long lead times, and cost inflation and construction risks.
High-grade gold material will now be fed through the gold processing plant after the recent recommencement of underground mining activities, focusing on the McNally Reef on the seventh and eighth levels, and on the Dickenson Reef on the fourth level.
Pre-production development underground is also seeing activities to access other potential high-grade gold-bearing reefs at Exhibition Reef and Stacpoole Reef above the fourth level, identified from the recent and substantive diamond drilling campaign.
White Rock's drilling has also identified a fifth potential reef for exploitation above the ninth level, being the Whitelaw’s North Reef.
The company will commence access to this reef in 2023 once the other reefs have been established for production.