West Perth-based gold producer Calidus Resources has unveiled its maiden reserve for its Blue Spec deposit in the East Pilbara and announced a final investment decision for its proposed sulphide plant to process the gold is slated for mid-2023.
Blue Spec’s maiden reserve has been determined at 83,000 ounces at 11.2 grams per tonne gold. Combined with the reserve at its Copenhagen deposit of 17,000 ounces at 5.5g/t, it means a 100,000-ounce reserve has the potential to be treated via a proposed sulphide plant at Calidus’ Warrawoona project, 25km south-east of Marble Bar and about 70km from Blue Spec, for a combined seven years.
Calidus has also left the door open to adding to the plant’s workload, touting potential feed from its Coronation satellite pit and other exploration targets.
The company says the results of the feasibility study support the Blue Spec reserve, coupled with the Copenhagen reserve, demonstrate the integration of the high-grade satellite deposits into the Warrawoona project will generate a significant increase in production and operational cashflow for only modest additional capital expenditure.
The announcement of Blue Spec’s reserve means Calidus’ total reserves have now increased to 600,000 ounces gold.
Blue Spec is a steeply dipping vertical-sub-vertical narrow vein deposit that comprises two separate mining areas about 1.2km apart along strike – Blue Spec and Gold Spec.
Along with the reserve announcement is an update mineral resource estimate for the Blue Spec project that combines the Blue Spec and Gold Spec deposits of 222,000 ounces at 28.4g/t.
Calidus says the maiden reserve denotes a clear pathway to growing production at Warrawoona to 140,000 ounces a year, that will significantly increase free cashflow and enable the leveraging of existing infrastructure.
Calidus Resources Managing Director, Dave Reeves said: “Calidus is in an enviable position with a solid foundation of production and a strong growth pipeline based on a substantial reserve base and significant scope for further increases in mine life through organic and inorganic growth.”
The unveiling of Blue Spec’s maiden reserve continues a busy year for the one-time biotech-turned gold explorer.
In January, Calidus added more armoury to its gold interests when it created Pirra Lithium with Haoma Mining to explore the lithium potential in 1000 sq km of the Pilbara.
In May, it metamorphosed from explorer-developer and joined the ranks of WA gold producers after its first pour at the company’s Warrawoona conventional carbon-in-leach plant.
In August, Calidus announced it had organised a $20 million placement to fund its growth plans – including early works at Blue Spec and the proposed expansion of the Warrawoona mill with the sulphide plant.
A final investment decision for the expansion is slated for the June quarter of next year. The company plans to use the intervening time to reduce costs for the sulphide project, issue tenders and award work scopes for the installation of the plant and develop off-take agreements and underground mining.
Calidus bought Blue Spec from Canadian company Novo for $19.5 million back in September 2020.
For Calidus the opportunity was too good to pass up, given the likely operational and capital cost synergies between Blue Spec and nearby Warrawoona given their proximity and the easy trucking distance between the two sites.
Moreover, Blue Spec had a record of historical production, chalking up about 60,000 ounces of gold at more than 25 g/t to a depth of about 320m.
The deposit was discovered in 1906 and Anglo American acquired the mine in 1974 and operated it until it closed five years later. However it still had existing decline and shaft infrastructure in addition to facilities as such as offices, workshops, roads and a tailings dam.
Its mineral resource at time of purchase was 415,000 tonnes at 16.3g/t gold and 1.3 per cent antimony for 219,000 ounces gold and 5.2k/t antimony.
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By Matt Birney
