Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK, OTC:ALKEF) has passed another milestone at its Tomingley Gold Operations in Central West New South Wales with the transition from ore development to production stoping at the Roswell deposit.
The first production stope at Roswell is being blasted today and the company plans to extract 23,000 tonnes of ore from the stope at an average grade of 5.2 g/t gold with this area being within the deposit’s ore reserve.
Production will continue to ramp up at the deposit at which relevant mine management plans allowing full extraction and processing have been approved by the NSW regulator.
Higher-grade orebody
Roswell, which is part of the Tomingley Gold Extension Project (TGEP), is a higher-grade orebody being developed by Alkane to extend Tomingley’s mine life and increase gold production.
READ: Alkane Resources lifts TGEP gold reserves to 664,000 ounces; readies for first stoping
The planned development and ramp-up is needed to meet the company’s current financial year production guidance for the Tomingley Gold Operations, which has been operating since 2014 and has the resources to continue to operate beyond 2030.
The initial underground ore reserves for Roswell are 237,000 ounces, taking total ore reserves for Roswell, including the planned open cut, to 450,000 ounces.
“Major milestone”
Alkane managing director Nic Earner said: “The firing of the first production stope at Roswell is a major milestone for Tomingley that we have been working towards since drilling our first exploration hole there in 2018.
“Not only does Roswell have higher-grade stopes but it is open at depth and along strike.
“We continue to conduct both grade control and extension drilling from underground. We’re continuing with extensive development to enable production to ramp up.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank the exploration, production and project teams for the work they have done to allow this milestone to occur.”