Wiluna’s first gold concentrate shipment departs Fremantle

The first shipment of gold concentrate departed Western Australia’s port of Fremantle on Sunday February 27, bound for Polymetal’s London POX treatment facility.

Wiluna Mining (ASX:WMC) has shipped its first gold in concentrate bound for its $5billion market cap off-take partner Polymetal Internal, an LSE-listed top-10 gold producer.

Wiluna’s logistics contractor, Qube Bulk delivered the concentrate from Wiluna’s mine via road and rail to their facility at the port of Fremantle where it was loaded onto the ship which left on Sunday..

Second shipment on-route to Freo

The company says the first seven shipments are in the process of being locked in with the second shipment of 20 containers loaded and on its way to Fremantle with an estimated early March departure date.

Its third shipment, which will likely be 50 containers, is also confirmed and will be shipped to off-take partner Trafigura, due to depart Fremantle in mid-March.

This marks WMC’s first shipment to Trafigura who, like Polymetal International plc, signed an offtake contract for the first three years of production in a contract announced back in March 2020.

‘A great milestone’

To date, 2,690 wet tonnes of gold in concentrate, which is the equivalent to ~5,650/oz of gold, has been produced with the ramp-up to full steady-state commercial in progress.

The company’s Wiltails tailings retreatment facility – expected to produce ~15kozpa – is now also 30% complete and expected to be commissioned in Q2 CY2022.

This will make a material difference to stage 1 production at Wiluna from the date of commissioning.

“The departure of our first shipment is a great milestone for WMC and along with Wiltails, which is due to be commissioned in Q2 CY’22, we hope to be producing at steady-state commercial production of an annualised 100kozpa by Q3 CY’22,” Wiluna executive chair Milan Jerkovic said.

This article was developed in collaboration with Wiluna Mining Corporation, 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.