The contracts are signed between Kingwest Resources Ltd (ASX:KWR) and ASX-listed gold miner, St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), ahead of the toll milling of high-grade ore from Kingwest’s Selkirk joint venture (JV) with BML Ventures Pty Ltd at Leonora.
Mobilisation plans in train
This last step in the documentation process clears the way for the joint venture to go into production. The JV partners are now progressing final budgets and mobilisation plans.
More than 30,000 tonnes of ore has been identified for processing in the first quarter of next year, with the optionality for additional ore processing within the contract.
Kingwest’s executive chairman Greg Bittar said: “It is fantastic to receive confirmation from St Barbara that our Selkirk ore will be processed at the Leonora operations, located approximately 100 kilometres north of our Menzies Gold Project via the sealed Goldfields Highway.
“We are excited that Kingwest will now be moving into production with our JV partners and hope to capitalise on the extraordinary Australian gold price – which is nearly A$3,000 per ounce.
“We are looking forward to sharing further information as the Selkirk JV progresses, including key milestones such as mining commencement, ore mining activities, haulage operations and first gold pour as the project develops.”
The high-grade Selkirk deposit is planned to be mined via a cutback of the existing pit, around 1.5 kilometres to the northwest of Menzies, WA.
Mining operations are planned to commence with a fleet of 100-tonne rigid dump trucks for initial waste movement, with a smaller fleet of 40-tonne trucks and a smaller excavator to reduce ore loss and dilution associated with ore mining activities.
Following up on ‘exceptional’ results
Drilling at Selkirk in the second half of 2022 returned results including:
- 6 metres at 24.62 g/t gold from 92 metres
- 3 metres at 14.68 g/t gold from 47 metres
- 7 metres at 24.8 g/t gold from 43 metres
- 6 metres at 20.0 g/t gold from 41 metres
BML is responsible for all capital costs, mining and haulage with profits split on an even (50:50) basis upon reconciliation of gold sales and project costs.