Vertex Minerals has shared an update on its Reward gold mine project in Australia, with the first blast of gold-producing ore on the Lady Belmore Reef completed.

This ore will enhance the existing low-grade gold stockpile being processed at the Gekko gravity processing plant until full mining operations are established.

Vertex Minerals is expected to start processing high-grade stope ore from the underground mine in the coming weeks.

The Reward underground transformer substation, which transforms electricity from 11 kilovolt-amps to 1,000 volts, is now operational and the cabling to the primary fan is complete.

Access drives to the two starter stopes are being prepared for the production rig to begin drilling the high-grade stopes.

Decline 3, developed on the Mica Vein, is fully dewatered and ready for flatback mining, which will provide additional gold feed to the gravity plant.

Vertex aims to develop at least four mining fronts, employing various mining methods to maintain a continuous feed to the plant. The Reward gold mine has a resource of 225,000oz at 16.7 grams per tonne (g/t).

The start-up mine schedule includes mining 2,075t at 17.8g/t gold from a developed airleg stope block, with the stope width matching the interpretation of the mineralisation.

As the extraction will take time, the Vertex geology and mining team is planning to bring forward a high-grade long hole stope to commence mining this month, using the Epiroc Production Rig.

The mine is projected to achieve up to 95% recovery by gravity processes only, highlighting the potential of this gold system with more than 25km of strike.

In February, Vertex initiated the commissioning of a newly installed ore sorter/pre-concentrator at its Hill End Gold plant at the Reward gold mine in Australia.