Acquisition of heap leach process plant moves OzAurum closer to production at Mulgabbie North gold project

The purchase of a heap leach process plant has moved Kalgoorlie-Boulder company OzAurum closer to realising the development of the Mulgabbie North gold project. OzAurum told the Australian Securities Exchange this week it had secured the plant, which was needed to support development of stage one of the project. The company said the plant was designed by internationally recognised heap leach specialists Kappes Cassidy & Associates and it had a strong operating history at successful WA projects including Marvel Loch Gold, Nifty Copper, and Bullabulling Gold. OzAurum said it was designed to operate at 100 tonnes per hour and could support a scalable processing rate of up to 350,000 tonnes per annum on day shift only operations. The company said securing the plant for $20,000 delivered a “very low” upfront capital cost base. OzAurum said ores treated using the agglomerator had demonstrated strong metallurgical performance, achieving gold recoveries of up to 80 per cent to 90 per cent on comparable ore types in prior heap leach operations, underpinning confidence in future recoveries at Mulgabbie North. The company said the plant would be refurbished at the Coolgardie industrial workshop, which was only 30km from its location at Bullabulling, allowing OzAurum to control costs, timelines and quality using in-house resources and local contractors. OzAurum said initial inspections indicated refurbishment requirements were limited primarily to electrical and mechanical checks, with all components being standard and readily available, reducing refurbishment risk and lead times. The company this week also announced it had lodged a development and closure proposal for the stage one small mining operation with the WA Department of Mines Petroleum and Exploration under the expedited approval pathway. OzAurum said completion of the stage one heap leach design, utilising two heap leach cells from the bigger 32-cell scalable development plan, would enable early cash flow while preserving significant upside. The company said it planned an owner-miner approach across mining, processing and civil works designed to deliver low operating costs and capital efficiency. OzAurum said this week’s gold price at a record $7200/oz significantly enhanced project economics and development optionality. Mulgabbie North is 130km north-east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, next to Northern Star Resources’ Carosue Dam operations, and has a mineral resource estimate of 11.64 million tonnes at 0.70g per tonne for 260,000oz of gold. There is 1.475Mt at 0.82g/t for 39,000oz in the measured category, with 5.62Mt at 0.71g/t for 128,000oz in the indicated category. Goldfields mining identity Andrew Pumphrey is managing director and chief executive, with prominent Kalgoorlie-Boulder Ashok Parekh the non-executive chair. OzAurum is pushing on with the development of Mulgabbie North after its initial joint venture approach fell apart when Line Hydrogen was placed into administration last August.