PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior De Grey Mining is looking to double the scale of its Pilbara gold project, in Western Australia, on the back of an increase in the resource estimate.
The company on Thursday told shareholders that the scale of the development study would be increased to a two-million-tonne-a-year plant throughput, up from the one-million tonnes a year considered in the 2017 prefeasibility study.
Preliminary economic evaluations have shown that the increased scale should result in a production profile of over 100 000 oz/y of gold, up from the previous estimate of between 51 000 oz/y and 65 000 oz/y.
De Grey noted that the decision to increase the proposed scale of the Pilbara project was also supported by the improved gold price outlook, economies of scale, and a simplified process plant flowsheet.
“Our vision is very simple: we have our foot on a significant new gold province and we plan to grow resources towards three-million ounces, and ultimately develop a new standalone 100 000 oz gold mining operation,” said De Grey chairperson Simon Lill.
“To achieve this vision, exploration guidance is to increase the resource to two-million ounces in 2019. Recent openpit evaluations, together with improved gold recoveries, show expanding the mining and processing rate to two-million tonnes a year is likely to deliver superior returns and increase production beyond our goal of 100 000 oz/y compared to the original 65 000 oz/y defined in the 2017 scoping study.”