Canadian miner International Gold Mining has announced a formal agreement with Australia's Roxbury Mining consultants to develop the British King Mine in Western Australia.
International Gold says skills shortages due to high levels of mining activity have led to the partnership with Roxbury.
International Gold has recently completed a re-commissioning of the mine to support small-scale mining operations in preparation for above and underground development work.
The agreement includes installation and certification of the lift, skip and mining cage, dewatering of the mine and other underground development.
Production is scheduled to commence in the first quarter 2008.
British King Mine was previously mined using shafts and underground working and the ore is currently accessed via two main shafts.
The project has an extensive database of drilling and underground development sampling on which the original 2004 resource estimates have been based, says International Gold.
By Ozge Ibrahim
