Southern Cross Gold Consolidated has secured approval for its work plan for the exploration tunnel at the Sunday Creek gold-antimony project in Victoria, Australia.
This approval allows the company to transition from exploration success towards potential mine development.
Over the past three years, Sunday Creek has emerged as a significant gold and antimony discovery.
The approved exploration tunnel, also referred to as an exploration decline, will provide underground access to high-grade mineralisation at Sunday Creek.
The company said that the tunnel will facilitate resource expansion and definition along strike and at depth, while also supporting the collection of geotechnical data required for future mine design.
Additionally, it will enable the assessment of various mining methods and equipment selection for potential future operations.
Gaining underground access represents an advancement over surface drilling alone, allowing the company to map high-grade mineralisation more efficiently across multiple zones.
Following extensive consultation, the tunnel design was optimised to minimise impacts on the environment, cultural heritage areas and the local community.
Key advantages from this development include reduced impacts from round-the-clock surface drilling operations and fewer surface drill pads required, thereby protecting neighbours, native vegetation and heritage features.
Southern Cross Gold president and CEO Michael Hudson said: "This work plan approval is a pivotal milestone in Sunday Creek's evolution from exploration discovery to future potential mine development. We are assembling the pieces needed for a commercially viable operation: an exceptional high-grade discovery with demonstrated depth continuity, strategic freehold land ownership, proven metallurgy, and now approval for underground access.
"The exploration tunnel will allow us access to drill and better understand the high-grade mineralisation, significantly enhancing our ability to define and expand the resource and advance technical studies.
"With ten surface drill rigs operating today, the company plans to add an additional 12 drill rigs underground after the decline completion for 22 rigs in total, making it the largest pre-development drill programme in Australia.”
Site establishment is scheduled to begin next month.
The company said it is also advancing secondary approvals under the Water Act and the Environment Protection Act, working closely with the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Resources Victoria and other relevant agencies before commencing underground works.
In April this year, Southern Cross Gold revealed plans to raise around C$120m ($86.5m) via a private placement of roughly 26.6 million common shares and/or CHESS Depositary Interests.
