Auric Mining Ltd (ASX:AWJ) is eagerly awaiting the first toll milling campaign for 2024 of ore from the Jeffreys Find Gold Mine near Norseman in Western Australia, which is expected to begin next week.
Stage 2 mining has been underway for a month and is proceeding smoothly on an around-the-clock basis.
Ore delivered to mill
Almost 20,000 tonnes of ore has been delivered to the Greenfields Mill at Coolgardie by BML Ventures Pty Ltd of Kalgoorlie, Auric’s joint venture partner.
Toll milling of Jeffreys Find ore at Greenfields Mill is due to begin on around April 16, 2024, with approximately 40,000 dry metric tonnes to be processed for the first gold campaign of the year and this is expected to take around two weeks.
The first cash is expected for the joint venture in May 2024.
“Timing is perfect”
Managing director Mark English said “The maiden milling campaign for 2024 is about to get underway. It is the first of many that are planned throughout the year.
“The ambition is to process in excess of 300,000 tonnes in 2024, nearly double that of 2023. Our joint venture partner is operating on an around-the-clock basis with larger equipment to expedite mining.
“The first parcel of approximately 40,000 tonnes is due to be toll treated imminently which is great news. With a gold price around $A3,500 an ounce the timing is perfect.
“All the pointers show that Jeffreys Find will be a substantial cash producer for us during the coming 12 months.”
Processing campaigns
BML plans to mine more than 300,000 tonnes of ore during Stage 2 of the project in 2024 with ore to be processed at Greenfields. A number of processing campaigns are planned.
Stage 1 last year saw 176,000 tonnes processed for 9,741 ounces of gold.
Auric is expecting first surplus cash distribution in the last quarter of 2024 and further cash distributions in the first quarter of 2025.