Medallion focused on building critical mass at Ravensthorpe gold project

Gold-copper explorer Medallion Metals has its sights set on building the resources at its Ravensthorpe Gold Project in WA up to a critical mass of 1.5 million ounces.

Managing director Paul Bennett said the logic behind aiming for 1.5 million ounces is that half of it converts to mine plan, with 700,000-800,000 ounces in reserve and 100,000 ounces of gold production per annum for 7-8 years.

“In our view that is the critical mass that you need to bank a project in WA in this market at the moment, and we’re really confident that the ground that we hold down there can deliver that target metal endowment,” he said.

“It’s our aim to build those project resources to 1.5 million ounces and beyond and build a long-life low-cost gold business in Ravensthorpe.

“I think the key elements of the business that set us apart from many of our peers are that this is a district scale opportunity in a tier one jurisdiction, so we’ve got 40km of prospective stratigraphy that is known to host the ore bodies we’re looking for.

“And the community is supportive, it’s had a long association with the resources sector stretching back for over a century.”

Growing the Ravensthorpe resource

The Ravensthorpe gold project has an established high grade gold resource of 8.8 Mt at 2.4g/t gold for 674,000 ounces, and Medallion Metals (ASX:MM8) current 32,000m drill program is aimed at updating the mineral resource in March 2022.

“It’s got a significant copper credit, it’s shallowly drilled, it’s open along strike, it’s open at depth, it can, and it is being expanded rapidly with the drill program that we’ve got going underway there,” Bennett said.

“The project is significantly de-risked, we’re on granted mining leases, we are clear from a heritage perspective, we’ve advanced the permitting significantly and we’ve completed a feasibility study on the project resources that demonstrates Ravensthorpe will produce high-grade ounces.

“That’s really the motivation and we think that’s a compelling argument to go and look for more of them.

“We’re confident we’ll be pushing up towards the million-ounce mark in March, and then remain in the resource building phase through to 2022.”

The company is 27,000m through the current drill program, and just last week raised $4.8 million – which Bennett said would be used for a further 13,000m in the first half of next year.

Regional targets already producing high-grade results

The known resources are currently estimated in the Kundip mining centre, where the bulk of the activity and expenditure will occur at Ravensthorpe over the next 12 months – but the drilling program will also test the regional targets of Meridian, Old Gregg and Ariel.

“At Meridian, we reported results and the highlight there was five metres at 11.4 grams last week,” Bennett said.

“So that really confirms the prospectivity of the regional ground holding.

“This is a story about going from an established resource where we are now to growth to a critical mass and then moving into production and become a producing gold and copper mine.”