Laneway gets refurb and restart work under way at Georgetown

Laneway Resources has reached another marker point on its path to regional growth and having control of its gold production as refurbishment works kick off at the Georgetown plant.

The estimated $2.5m refurbishment and restart works will allow Laneway Resources (ASX:LNY) to process ore through the North Queensland plant in coming weeks.

The emerging gold miner set itself on the road to regional-scale growth with the strategic acquisition of the Georgetown Gold Project in February. The project also includes mining leases and exploration permits covering 515km2 close to the plant.

It is currently anticipated the works program to enable ore processing will take around 12 weeks to finish.

But that time the high grade ore from Laneway’s nearby flagship Agate Creek project, which was pre-stripped during 2021, will be mined and ready to be processed.

Golden pipeline

Laneway Managing Director Brad Gordon commented: “We are pleased to be underway with the refurbishment and restart works at the Georgetown plant which, once complete, will enable us to take control of our processing and development future and provide a clear pathway for Laneway to execute on its significant growth pipeline.”

The first phase of the refurb involves site, electrical and mechanical works.

Also under way and advancing well are re-establishment of site infrastructure including water, tailings, offices, maintenance stores, workshops and communications.

The North Queensland plant was previously fully refurbished in 2010 and has been used only briefly since then. Some of that work included the processing of a metallurgical sample from Agate Creek, which achieved good gold recoveries, in early 2014.

The next phase of drilling and blasting at Agate Creek is expected to start during mid-May, with earthmovers set to mobilise soon afterwards.

The work at Georgetown has started just after the completion of the retail component of its fully underwritten entitlement offer of approximately $7.9 million. That marked the finalisation of the second stage of Laneway’s $11 million (before costs) capital raising program announced in January.

The acquisition of Georgetown will be completed on 31 May 2022.