Blackham Resources Limited (ASX: BLK) has successfully commissioned its Rod Mill and new Ball Mill motor, both of which will provide for significantly higher throughput at its Wilna Gold Mine in Western Australia.
Executive Chairman, Milan Jerkovic, said the project upgrades have been made to increase production, reduced unit processing costs and improve cash flow.
Mr Jerkovic said the Rod Mill at Wiluna has now been successfully commissioned, providing 20% additional grinding capacity and throughput. Further optimisation of the milling circuit is now underway.
The company also announced that a mill motor failure that disrupted production for several days has now been replaced.
The previously reinstated original mill motor had caused some throughput restrictions, particularly as a result of its inability to operate in the normal high temperatures experienced during summer in Wiluna.
A newly constructed mill motor has now been successfully installed and commissioned,
The company also reported that it is currently assessing its short to medium term planning in the prevailing record Australian dollar gold prices, which have been sustained for some time now.
The company anticipates that the current economic environment should provide further opportunities to take advantage of its inherent operational flexibility at the Wiluna operations during the transition to the sulphide operations.
Blackham has also recently implemented additional hedging activities, with gold forward sales contracts as at the date of this report being for 6,000oz at an average price of A$2,328/oz, maturing by 30 April 2020. Blackham also has additional revenue protection via put options, which provide the company the right (but not the obligation) to sell 20,000oz at a minimum price of $2,018/oz between Feb’20 and Jun’20 inclusive.
