KBL announces first gold pour at Mineral Hill mine

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Image credit: www.kblmining.com.au

Australian resource company KBL Mining announced that it has produced, smelted and sold the first 497 ounces of gold ore from its Mineral Hill mine in NSW.

Image credit: www.kblmining.com.au

During the last eight months, the company has moved from being an underground operation to a 100% surface gold and silver producer, doubling the existing floatation plant capacity, commissioning a new CIL circuit and commencing production of gold concentrate.

“The process plant now has the flexibility to float gold concentrates, leach gold ores, float copper, lead and zinc concentrates, all through separate circuits providing the ability to treat ores separately from the polymetallic gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc lodes contained within the 10 year resource base,” KBL said in a statement to the ASX.

“Significant underground development has recently been completed to access future underground lodes within the Southern Ore Zone.”

Adertisement

While the gold pour is viewed by KBL as a significant milestone, the quantity of the pour was less than anticipated which prompted the company to thoroughly review its ongoing practices and identify opportunities for improved results.

“The current focus is the high grade (6.5 g/t Au) Pearse open cut operation with the movement of over 800,000 BCM of over burden (waste) exposing the full strike of the Pearse lode. With the majority of waste removed KBL can reduce the equipment size to excavate and transport ore to the process plant some 850 metres from the pit. This has placed KBL in a unique position for the first time with stock piled oxide and sulphide ore ahead of the process plant,” reads the statement.

According to KBL, some 86,586 tonnes of ore has been extracted from the Pearse deposit and processed through the Mineral Hill process plant at a rate of 400,000 tonnes per annum compared to the long term average throughput rate of 300,000 tonnes per annum.

“The initial three months of mining was prior to the CIL plant operating and required the oxide ore to be stockpiled and the free milling component of the tails stored for processing when the CIL was commissioned,” the company stated.

“Sulphide ore was processed through the two mills to produce a gold concentrate for export to China. KBL has to date produced and exported some 3,617 tonnes of concentrate, containing approximately two ounces of gold and ten ounces silver per tonne.”

The company also advised that it is continuing to evaluate several other targets on the Mineral Hill property which are considered to have significant potential to add further resources.