Maritana Minerals has moved to shore up the workforce backbone for its planned Black Swan gold processing hub, 50km north-east of Kalgoorlie, locking in a staged accommodation strategy at the project site and in Kalgoorlie, the beating heart of WA's Goldfields.
The company has signed an agreement with Quick Camps for a 57-room fly-camp at Black Swan. The temporary camp, including kitchen and other amenities, is expected to be operational from early August and will remain on site for 12 months to support construction activity.
Maritana has also procured kitchen and accommodation units from ATCO Structures and Logistics for a proposed 60-room permanent camp at the Black Swan site. The camp has been designed to scale up to 120 rooms if the company needs extra capacity as activity builds.
The ATCO modules are regarded as long-lead items and are slated for delivery in November. Maritana says it is now assessing the supply of other modules and is working with a preferred construction provider to have the permanent camp operational from early January next year.
The timing lines up with the expected ramp-up of contractors at Black Swan as the company pushes on with development of the processing hub and prepares for future ore mining, which will ultimately feed its hub-and-spoke operating model.
Maritana has added a second leg to the plan by acquiring a central Kalgoorlie property that already comes with development approval for a 50-room camp. Once built, the facility is expected to support mining operations closer to town, including at the company’s Boorara and Coote-Crake projects, within 10km of Kalgoorlie.
Maritana Minerals managing director and chief executive officer Grant Haywood said: “Securing accommodation early is a key enabler for the development of the Black Swan Processing Hub. The Quick Camps fly-camp allows construction activities to commence on schedule, while the ATCO modules lock away the long lead items for our permanent camp ahead of the ramp-up of contractors on site.”
A tender process for engineering and construction works at the Kalgoorlie site is set to start shortly, with development expected to begin in early 2027. In the interim, the company’s temporary accommodation will support ongoing resource drilling and the planned ramp-up of mining operations during the first quarter of 2027.
The latest update follows Maritana’s June progress report, which outlined a plan to increase processing throughput at Black Swan from 2.2 to 2.5 million tonnes per annum and the lodgement of applications for key regulatory approvals.
Additionally, the company is partway through enlarging its run-of-mine ore pad and has accelerated the recruitment of senior site executives, including an occupational health manager.
The company is targeting a construction start in the next month or two, with first production from multiple ore sources slated for the second half of 2027. Longer-term, Maritana has made no secret of its ambition to become a 100,000-ounce-per-annum gold producer.
While accommodation may not seem to be the flashiest line item in a gold development story, it is invariably one of the details that determines how smoothly a project moves from planning to construction.
With beds now being lined up at the Black Swan hub and in Kalgoorlie, Maritana has put another practical element in place as it pushes the project towards construction.
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By Doug Bright
