ASX-listed Aurumin has kicked off the first of two phases of development works for its Mt Dimer gold project, where it is planning shallow open pits at its high-grade Lightning and Golden Slipper deposits.
Mt Dimer sits about 120km north-east of Southern Cross, at a site where historical high-grade production delivered more than 125,000 gold ounces, including open-pit and underground production of 600,000 tonnes at 6.4 grams per tonne gold.
The company says Lightning is a high-grade unmined deposit and recent drilling produced results of 10m at 20.22g/t gold, including a 1m hit grading a whopping 153.5g/t gold.
Development of Golden Slipper will focus on works to the south of a small open pit mined in the 1990s to depth of 63m and where 67,000 tonnes at 3.4g/t gold were extracted for 7325 gold ounces.
Aurumin says both deposits are on existing mining leases at a previously operating site with solid infrastructure in place, including access to haulage roads, an air strip and camp facilities. The first phase of development operations are intended to be on a toll-treating or ore-selling basis with multiple processing plants in the broader region capable of toll treatment, including at Coolgardie and Marvel Loch.
A significant amount of work has been completed at the operation, with a flora and fauna survey and metallurgical testwork already finalised.
Aurumin managing director Brad Valiukas said: “The gold price remains very healthy and we have the Mt Dimer Project, with the small, but high-grade, Lightning and Golden Slipper deposits. We have a significant amount of capital in the ground, and it’s appropriate for us to realise a return on that investment and generate value for shareholders.”
The second phase of development will look into the expansion of mining, including potential cutbacks at Lightning and Golden Slipper, and the potential development of the LO3, T12, Karli West, Frodo and Anomaly 2 deposits.
In the coming months Auric, plans to lock in toll treatment capacity or an ore purchasing agreement and mining costs, in addition to engaging with the Department of Mining, Industry Regulation and Safety to finalise permits. The development of Mt Dimer will be progressed internally while exploration continues at the company’s Sandstone gold project.
The gold explorer is tantalisingly close to joining the magic “million-ounce club” after revealing a gold inventory of 946,000 ounces in WA’s Mid West region last year. The figure comes after resource updates for the company’s Central Sandstone deposits and incorporating its nearby Johnson Range project into one operation.
Aurumin officially acquired the 784,000-ounce Central Sandstone project in March last year after striking a $12 million cash and scrip deal with Middle Island Resources in 2021. Following a successful reverse-circulation (RC) campaign, it was able to include an additional 97,000 ounces at the site.
With pre-development works at Mt Dimer now in motion, the market will be keeping a close eye on Auric’s progress at the project as it finalises cut-off grades. A more definitive timeline for development is set to be released in coming months.
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By Michael Philipps
