Classic edges closer to gold production at Kat Gap mine

Classic Minerals has forecast a start to gold production in June after completing bulk earthworks for the tailings storage facility (TSF) at its wholly-owned Kat Gap gold mine, which is under construction 170km south of Southern Cross in WA’s Central Wheatbelt.

The company plans to this month start lining the TSF with a high-density polyethylene liner. It is expected the facility will be ready for use after monitoring bores are installed around it next month.

Other ongoing works include the reassembly and commissioning of the processing plant, completion of the maintenance workshop and establishment of the office buildings.

Kat Gap has a resource of 975,722 tonnes at 2.96 grams per tonne gold for 92,856 ounces of gold. Classic’s 80 per cent-owned Forrestania gold project is 50km north of Kat Gap and has additional resources of 311,050 ounces of gold at a head grade between 1.3 and 1.4 g/t gold.

The TSF is a first-stage facility with a capacity for 70,000 tonnes of tailings, with expansion options to 130,000 tonnes. When complete, the facility will be permitted to host cyanide reagents used in the processing plant.

Commercial gold production at Kat Gap is expected to be well underway in June. Classic is using a gravity circuit and cyanide processing is expected to give a gold recovery of up to 98 per cent.

Management is installing a Gecko gravity processing plant at Kat Gap in a move that is expected to recover more than 73 per cent of the metal from ore. The Gekko Inline Pressure Jig and Gekko Spinner will deliver more than 95 per cent of the liberated gold through a simple gravity process at a crush size of less than 2mm. The plant has a capacity of 100 tonnes per hour.

The remaining 27 per cent of the gold will report to the tailings for reprocessing through a standard cyanide carbon-in-leach plant at a later point in the project development. Kat Gap has been shown to have ore with high levels of gravity-extractable gold at low processing and establishment costs.

Classic holds 578 square kilometres of tenements across two mineral-rich regions in WA. The company has identified high-grade gold and base metal targets, although its recent focus has been getting the Kat Gap gold mine into production. The mine has high-grade gold in a shallow, unmined gold deposit that was first uncovered in the 1990s when the now defunct Sons of Gwalia completed a resource estimate and scoping study at the site.

In January this year, Classic released RC drilling assays from Kat Gap with high-grade gold intercepts beneath existing shallower gold mineralisation. Best results included 10m at 9.26 g/t gold from 57m, including 3m going 28.3 g/t gold and 6m grading 12.12 g/t gold from 70m. The results extend below known resources at depth, showing the project has plenty of potential to grow.

The company’s nearby Forrestania gold project, which is 20 per cent-owned by Hannans, contains further resources of 311,050 ounces of gold at a head grade of between 1.3 and 1.4 g/t gold.

In December last year, Classic announced a $20.1 million funding package for the construction of its Kat Gap gold mine. It included a $15 million share put option facility and a $5.1 million convertible note issue through United States-based, LDA Capital. The funding followed final mine approval from the WA Government the previous month.

When the cash starts to roll in from Kat Gap, Classic will be in a good position to turbocharge exploration on its highly-prospective ground. The operation could be just the beginning of the development of a significant gold miner.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au