Besra appoints mining professional to push commercialisation of Jugan gold project

BEZ appoints mining professional to develop Jugan gold project in Malaysia
Matthew Antill has extensive gold mine development experience
Company plans to commercialise Jugan through Pilot Plant production and delivery of a Definitive Feasibility Study

Special Report: Besra Gold has appointed Matthew Antill as managing director of subsidiary North Borneo Gold Sdn Bhd where he will head the mining and development team.

Antill is an experienced mine development specialist and will be responsible for moving the Jugan project towards commercialisation, through pilot production and delivery of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).

The Jugan pilot plant is part of Besra Gold’s (ASX:BEZ) flagship Bau Corridor gold project, which currently has a high confidence measured resource of 3.4Mt at 1.5g/t gold, or 166,900oz of contained gold, an indicated resource of 16.4Mt at 1.57g/t gold, or 824,800oz contained gold, and an inferred resource of 47.9Mt at 1.29g/t gold, or ~1.99oz contained gold.

The Jugan plant will study the metallurgical processing of ore for Bau and has been designed to process 50 tonnes per day (tpd).

It also has the required licensing and capability to increase the processing throughput to up to 200 tpd.

Malaysian mine development specialist

Antill’s career spans over three decades in mining and mine development, with senior operational management experience and oversight of studies in both open pit and underground operations.

He specialises in gold, including refractory and narrow vein operations and was previously chief production and mine development officer at Monument Mining where he played a pivotal role in the commencement of multiple open pit mines and commissioning the ~1mtpa sulphide gold processing circuit at the Selinsing gold mine in Malaysia.

Antill successfully managed the transition of the mine from oxide ore production to the commencement in late 2023 of gold concentrate production from sulphide ore.

Knows his way around a gold mine

Antill was also previously general manager operations at Rox Resources in Western Australia, managing various studies and metallurgical test work for the Youanmi gold mine, evaluating multiple processing treatment options and mining scenarios for the company’s mix of open pit and underground operations.

Youanmi is host to a Resource of 2.3moz gold, including refractory ore, with a recently completed PFS targeting a >100kozpa gold.

His other senior operational leadership experience includes roles at Lafayette Mining Philippines, Fox Resource’s Radio Hill, Citic Pacific’s Sino iron project and Saracen Metals’ Thunderbox mine.

This article was developed in collaboration with Besra Gold, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.