Classic Minerals looks to cement ore reserve as it digs up gold at Kat Gap

Trial mining to get underway to calculate Kat Gap ore reserve
Ore to be processed through the Gekko gravity plant
Stage 2 has targeted throughput of 200,000tpa

Trial mining is about to get under way at Classic Minerals’ Kat Gap mine to test the veracity of its recently announced indicated gold resource and set the scene for a potentially much larger stage two open pit.

Classic recently achieved first gold pour at its flagship Kat Gap gold project, ~170km south of Southern Cross in WA, which has an indicated resource of 20,488oz @ 2.5g/t and an inferred resource of 60,139oz @ 2.19g/t.

Stage 1 production will see Classic trial mine a good portion of the oxide component of the indicated resource down to a depth of 45m over the next eight weeks.

Trial data analysis will then be undertaken to update the ore reserve, with the miner expected to move into fulltime production soon after.

CLZ says that to enable an effective conversion from the current indicated resource to an ore reserve “an oxidised portion of the indicated block model needs to be interrogated by a trial mining open pit”.

It will then be processed through its innovative Gekko gravity plant to get an accurate measure of the reconciliation of the tonnes, grade and recoverable ounces of gold from the indicated block model at Kat Gap.

The Gekko gravity circuit can process 100,000tpa and is a precursor to the integration of the Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) process, which is currently under construction and installation as part of Stage 2 of the project.

A ramp up to Stage 2 production

Data from the trial pit mining is expected to set the scene for a potentially much larger, future Stage 2 open pit down to fresh rock for an estimated throughput of 200,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).

Mining and processing of this trial mining ore is an important step ahead of full-scale production activities, so they company can fully test and refine the Gekko plant along with its mining methods.

Classic CEO Dean Goodwin says he’s excited about getting earthmoving machines back to work on the trial pit, because in the next month the team will be able to get a good hard look at the high-grade portion of the main ore zone within the new indicated resource.

“It’s going to be one of those special moments. They don’t come along very often in one’s career so I can’t wait,” Goodwin says.

“It’s a proud moment for me and the rest of the team to see all that hard work that has gone into the drilling and resource work over these last few years come to fruition.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Classic Minerals, 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.