Ora Banda has continued to improve the performance of its Davyhurst plant, with a trial of 100% hard rock into the crushing circuit lifting throughput of the crusher to nameplate capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum.

Since August, crushed oxide product from a mobile crusher has been supplementing the installed crushing circuit to address issues with a higher percentage of oxide feed in the blend.

Gold production for August and September averaged over 5,300 oz per month – or 80% of the average annual budget production requirement per month.

The company is continuing to implement improvements to reach target production levels, with the total gold production for the September quarter of 14,312 oz gold (unreconciled).

Annual production reforecast underway

Ora Banda Mining (ASX:OBM) is currently reforecasting annual production, noting the following operational improvements at Davyhurst:

  • The site sample preparation laboratory is now operational which will improve assay turnaround;
  • A new drill rig is currently undergoing commissioning to improve drill penetration rates at Missouri; and
  • The tailings storage facility cell construction is almost complete, with tailings forecast to be deposited into the cell from October.

Diamond drilling at the Golden Eagle underground mine intersected mineralised contacts where expected, according to the revised interpretation.  But as gold grades and widths were not economic, mining at Golden Eagle is unlikely to be extended beyond January.

Engineering review recommendations accepted

Ora Banda has received the final report from an independent engineering review of the Davyhurst processing facility by Ausenco, which found no fatal flaws with the facility.

But the report did note that production rates during ramp-up were negatively impacted by:

  • A failure to identify the extent of the highly viscous nature of Riverina ore prior to commissioning;
  • A high proportion of oxide ore required to be treated through the three-stage crushing circuit created materials handling issues;
  • A lack of operational preparedness prior to commencing production;
  • A shortage in the continuity of skilled workforce at the plant; and
  • Shortfalls in maintenance planning systems.

Whilst the conclusions and related recommendations are each material to the operation of the Davyhurst processing facility, Ora Banda said that all key recommendations are already in the process of being implemented or planned to be implemented.

Lithium occurrences across landholding

The company says it’s aware of some interest in its recently disposed Mt Ida tenements and the lithium potential of those tenements, which was historically categorised as predominantly lepidolite and is challenging to process due to the increased reagent costs associated with impurity rejection.

Outside of the disposed tenements, Ora Banda retains extensive land holdings with known lithium occurrences which have also been categorised as lepidolite.

However, the company is currently gathering further samples for mineralogical testing to confirm the ratio of spodumene to lepidolite.

The three areas within Ora Banda’s 1,210sqkm landholding that are known to host lithium mineralisation are the Riverina mine, the Waihi pit, and the Gila deposit.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Ora Banda Mining Limited, 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.

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