Pantoro Limited (ASX:PNR) has confirmed practical completion of construction of the new one million tonne per annum processing plant at the Norseman Gold Project in Western Australia.
EPC contractor GR Engineering Services (ASX:GNG) has completed construction on time and on budget and ore commissioning of the processing plant is underway.
Mining activities at the Scotia Mining Centre and OK Underground Mine are ongoing with approximately 140,000 tonnes currently available for milling.
“Achieving practical completion on time, and on budget is an outstanding result considering the recent cost increases and delays experienced across the wider industry,” Pantoro Managing Director Paul Cmrlec said.
“I thank and congratulate the team at Pantoro for their substantial efforts to stay on track and hit the objective. I also commend the performance of GR Engineering in delivering the project.”
About the Norseman Project
Pantoro acquired 50% of the Norseman Gold Project in May 2019 and completion occurred in July 2019.
Pantoro is the manager of the unincorporated joint venture, and is responsible for defining and implementing work programmes, and the day-to-day management of the operation.
The Norseman Gold Project is located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, at the southern end of the highly productive Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt. The project lies approximately 725 km east of Perth, 200 km south of Kalgoorlie, and 200 km north of Esperance.
The current Mineral Resource is 4.7 million ounces of gold with an Ore Reserve of 900,000 ounces. Many of the Mineral Resources defined to date remain open along strike and at depth, and many of the Mineral Resources have only been tested to shallow depths.
In addition, there are numerous anomalies and mineralisation occurrences which are yet to be tested adequately to be placed into Mineral Resources, with a number of highly prospective targets already identified. The project comprises a number of near-contiguous mining tenements, most of which are pre-1994 Mining Leases.
The tenure includes approximately 70 lineal kilometres of the highly prospective Norseman – Wiluna greenstone belt covering approximately 800 square kilometres.
Historically, the Norseman Gold Project areas have produced over 5.5 million ounces of gold since operations began in 1935, and is one of, if not the highest-grade fields within the Yilgarn Craton.
The project is serviced by first class infrastructure at the project, local shire, and national infrastructure levels with everything required to commence mining already in place. Infrastructure is generally in good condition, and a new 1 MTPa processing plant is being constructed.
Pantoro has focused initial project planning on six initial mining areas containing multiple deposits which are amenable to both open pit and underground mining.
A Phase One DFS was completed in October 2020 detailing an initial seven year mine plan with a centralised processing facility and combination of open pit and underground mining producing approximately 108,000 ounces per annum.
Approvals for the project were received in October 2021. Practical completion of the new processing facility was achieved on September 5, 2022 on time and on budget. Mining is underway with first production expected in the third quarter of 2022.
For further information please visit: https://www.pantoro.com.au/
