Gascoyne Resources has appointed NRW Holdings as the preferred mining contractor for its Dalgaranga gold project in the Murchison region of Western Australia (WA).
The open-pit mining contract is valued at around A$300m ($234m), comprising drilling and blasting of four pits over a period of six years.
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With an initial mine life of six years, the project produces an average of around 100,000ozpa.
According to the company, there is potential to extend mine life of the project through near-mine discoveries.
Gascoyne Resources managing director Mike Dunbar said: “NRW is a highly respected mining contractor, with the mining experience required for the project with all key personnel and equipment available now, ensuring that we will be able to commence mining in March 2018 in accordance with the development plan.”
Discovered in the early 1990s, the project covers the majority of the Dalgaranga greenstone belt and produced 229,000oz of gold from 1996 to 2000.
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By GlobalDataThe company noted that the project has Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) measured, indicated and inferred resources of 31.1Mt at 1.3g/t Au for 1,320,000oz of contained gold.
The project also has a proved and probable ore reserve of 581,000oz of gold.
A feasibility study that has been completed took into consideration the development of two open-pits feeding a 2.5Mtpa processing facility to produce around 100,000ozpa.
The company has multiple gold projects in WA, producing more than 2.3 million ounces of contained gold.
Other projects owned by the company in the region include Glenburgh, which has measured, indicated and inferred resources of 21.3Mt at 1.5g/t Au for one million ounces of gold and Egerton.
Image: Construction of the Dalgaranga gold project well advanced. Photo: courtesy of Gascoyne Resources Limited.
