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GBM Resources (ASX: GMZ) - White Dam Gold Cooper Heap Leach JV Operations Have Commenced
GBM Resources Limited - 04 Oct 2020
This is a paid advertisement from GBM Resources Limited
The Digger does not endorse, approve, or have responsibility for the statements made.
GBM has recently announced three exciting developments in its strategy to discover and develop world class gold and copper deposits in Eastern Australia. All developments were at its White Dam Gold Operation (White Dam), located in South Australia, approximately 50 km west of Broken Hill. They involved the execution of a Joint Venture Agreement on White Dam with Round Oak Minerals Pty Limited, the successful completion and commissioning of a SART plant and the announcement of a maiden JORC 2012 resource of 102 koz.
GBM Resources Limited (ASX: GBZ) is a mineral exploration and development company that has a high calibre project portfolio, hosting district scale mineral systems, located in a number of premier metallogenic terrains including the Drummond Basin, Mt Morgan district and the Mt Isa Inlier in Queensland, and the Malmsbury Project in the prolific Victorian Goldfields.
Peter Rohner, Managing Director and CEO commented “These achievements at White Dam are a great endorsement of our management’s ability to develop and deliver projects and represent a material milestone in the delivery of our strategic programme. The combination of the completion of the SART Plant and the maiden JORC gold resources will not only generate cashflow for GBM, but also has the potential to extend the life of the White Dam operation”.
The Sulphidisation / Acidification / Recycling / Thickening (SART) plant, is designed to extract copper from the gold leach solution and improve the overall gold recoveries in an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective way. Its construction was completed broadly as planned, with only slight COVID-19 related delays to delivery times of some key equipment. Staged commissioning activities commenced over the past quarter as circuits in the plant were progressively completed. The circuit has also now been continuously operated, with reagent additions and first copper sulphide concentrate having been produced. The gold leaching circuit and SART Plant are targeted to reach steady-state operations during the current quarter.
The White Dam JV has the potential to provide GBM with cashflow generation, while allowing GBM to assess the viability of restarting mining operations at White Dam and exploit remnant open pit mineralisation, other previously defined mineralised zones and explore other associated tenements. White Dam is a heap leach operation that, since 2010, has produced approximately 175,000 oz of gold from heap leaching of ~7.5 Mt of ore at 0.94 g/t Au. While further work is required to confirm and quantify the opportunity in detail, there does appear strong potential to extend the life of the operation. It is worth noting the current gold price of around A$2,650/oz compares with a price of approximately A$1,650/oz at the time of the most recent mining campaign at White Dam in 2016/17.
The recent announcement of the maiden JORC 2012 resource estimates for the Hannaford, Vertigo and White Dam North deposits (comprising three deposits) is 4.6 Mt at 0.7 g/t Au for 101,900 ounces of gold. This resource has been estimated to satisfy the requirements of JORC 2012. With 28% of the ounces classified as Indicated with the balance Inferred. Importantly, 59,000 ounces (or 58%) of the contained gold is contained in oxidized portions of these deposits, similar to the material that has already been mined and successfully leached in the current operations. This material has the potential to be amenable to heap leach extraction and further studies will be completed to determine the viability of extraction of this material.
GBM through a combination of its recent fund raising activities and the progress being achieved at White Dam has positioned the company to deliver on its strategy and capitalise on recent record gold prices.
Peter Rohner
Managing Director
+61 8 9316 9100
peter.rohner@gbmex.com.au
Link to GBM website