Red 5 Limited (ASX: RED) continues to remain firmly on track for first gold production at its 100%-owned 2.4Moz, 16-year life-of-mine King of the Hills (KOTH) Gold Project in Western Australia next quarter, after achieving further key construction and development milestones in the month of January.
Recent milestones include the start of open pit mining and the commencement of commissioning of the crushing circuit, putting the KOTH Project on schedule and within budget to deliver first gold in the June Quarter 2022.
Key construction progress during January 2022 included:
- The crushing circuit switchroom has been energised;
- Piping and electrical installation for the SAG mill and carbon-in-leach tank areas is underway;
- All site powerline poles have been installed and transmission lines are nearing completion;
- The first of the borefields pipelines has been tested and is operational;
- The embankment lift on Tailings Storage Facility 4A is complete and installation of the tails pipeline and spigots has commenced;
- Commissioning of the power station black-start generators is complete (and currently supplying commissioning power for the crusher), while the six gas engines have been installed and are on track for commissioning as soon as gas is available;
- The gas pressure reduction and metering facility has been constructed and pre-commissioning has commenced;
- 95% of the gas pipeline has been installed; and
- The KOTH village is at full capacity, with both construction and operations crews utilising the camp.
Managing Director, Mark Williams, said SAG mill commissioning is expected to begin later in the March Quarter once gas power is available and electrical and piping installation for the mill has been completed. Once the crusher commissioning has been completed, Red 5 will commence building ore stockpiles in advance of sending first ore to the mill.
“January has been another busy month at King of the Hills, with our construction and development teams continuing to fire on all cylinders. It’s great to see the final elements of this new, long life gold mine rapidly taking shape, as is evident from our latest flyover video of the site,” Mr Williams said.
“January delivered important progress across a number of key areas at site and we are now getting to the pointy end of completion activities. Recent key milestones have included the commencement of open pit mining and the start of commissioning of the crushing circuit.
“Another big shout-out to our development team and contracting partner, MACA Interquip, who continue to meet the construction milestones despite the obvious labour and supply challenges being experienced across the industry. I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of our mining team and mining contractor Macmahon for their endeavours and achievements to date.
“I am also pleased to say that our people have done a fantastic job to date regarding COVID management and we have excellent protocols and systems in place to protect the health and safety of our people and minimise the impact of any future outbreak on our operations.”
For further information please visit: https://www.red5limited.com/
