Regis Says Mining at Moolart Well a Success
Regis says mining at Moolart Well a success
REGIS Resources says the completion of trial open pit mining at the Moolart Well gold deposit, part of the 100%-owned Duketon gold project near Laverton in Western Australia, was a success and confirmed the company's selection of mining methods and equipment.
The trial mining was undertaken to confirm mining methods, mining equipment and operating costs estimates for the laterite ore zone at the deposit.
A site within the North Lancaster pit area where only 2.5m of cover, consisting of laterite hard-cap and a skeletal soil, overlies the laterite ore was selected for the trial.
A trial pit 160m in length, 20m wide and 5m deep was excavated containing about 10,000 tonnes of material, of which 5471t at 2.18 grams per tonne was classified as ore above a 0.5gpt cut-off.
The grade at the base of the trial pit was 3.30gpt gold.
A Cat 931D scraper and a Cat D10N dozer were selected to represent the larger equipment fleet proposed for production mining activities.
The company said results of the trial show the choice of a scraper-dozer method is appropriate and light paddock blasting will be required to deal with the hard-cap material.
The trial confirmed cost estimates of the mining cycle times and operating costs of the equipment used in the reserve calculations and compiled in the Duketon Feasibility Study.
'Importantly, the mining costs associated with this techniques are significantly lower than those using the traditional drill and blast and truck and shovel methods, confirming that Regis expects to become a low-cost producer,' the company said.
Regis Resources shares remained stable this morning at 8.3c.
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