Meeka gets new ball mill rolling to Murchison gold play

Meeka Metals has confirmed its newly-acquired 750kW ball mill is now en route to its new home as a key component of the company’s expanded Murchison processing plant near Meekatharra in Western Australia.

The “Outokumpu” mill is slated to increase plant processing capacity to 640ktpa – a 30 per cent increase on the throughput of the 500kW mill that was included in definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the project in May. At the time of the DFS, management had already identified opportunities to expand its production through low capex expansion of processing capacity, reducing stockpile build and increasing open-pit production.

Previous processing considerations had been constrained by the original mill’s capacity to treating feed only from Meeka’s small, high-grade oxide open pits.

So, the company decided that a mill upgrade would materially expand production, accelerate its processing schedule and also enable exploitation of additional ore sources, particularly more resistant ores from underground.

Meeka Metals managing director Tim Davidson said: “Progress continues at a great pace and it is pleasing to now have the ball mill en route to the Murchison and the execution team for the mill expansion work preparing to mobilise in late October 2024. There continues to be a rapid intensification of activity on site and pleasingly the team continues to hit project delivery targets.”

The company revealed in July that it had acquired the new mill and related infrastructure and equipment for $318,000, which was to be funded by a secured bridging loan. The acquisition appears to be a bargain as it not only reduces the DFS estimated capex by 75 per cent, but also reduces the mill lead time by 33 weeks.

The mill-related equipment package includes the 750kW ball mill, the mill motor, gearbox, inching drive and spare gearbox, the liquid resistance mill starter, the mill ring-gear lubrication system, a complete spare set of liners and mill trommel (a rotating screen), trommel cover, trommel underflow and cyclone feed hopper.

The company figured the expanded mill capacity would allow for production and cash flow to be optimised through the processing of its 600,000-tonne ore stockpile of 38,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 2 grams per tonne, which would be built up within the first six years of operation.

It would also enable the inclusion of 52,000 ounces of gold at 1.3g/t from an optimised pit shell within a AU$3500 spot gold price, but which was excluded from the DFS due to the original mill capacity constraints. Additionally, it would bring into play a further 61,000 ounces of gold from ore grading 3.3g/t from its 2023 underground ore reserve, which was also excluded from the DFS due to the same mill capacity constraints.

With the inclusion of the additional ore sources made possible by the new mill, Meeka is now reoptimising its production plan for the increased processing capacity and is planning a DFS update timed for the December quarter.

Furthering its low-capex strategies to speed up the development of its 100 per cent-owned Murchison gold project, the company has also purchased quality site infrastructure at about 20 per cent of the DFS-estimated cost. That acquisition includes a 116-person camp, a 200-person change house and ablutions for its Andy Well mining centre, a 36.5m-by-14.5m, fully fitted-out main office building for Andy Well, a 12m-by-9m open-pit mining office for the Turnberry mining centre and a 110kL fuel storage tank.

Meeka has appointed MACA Interquip Mintrex – an engineering and construction service provider to the mining and mineral processing sector – to undertake the plant expansion work, including the incorporation of the new ball mill into its upgraded carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant.

Management says other design work is well-advanced on additional leach and adsorption tanks and structural steelwork, with fabrication scheduled to kick off in early November. Camp infrastructure work is also well advanced, with construction of the expanded 136-person accommodation village progressing well and 88 rooms installed.

Preparatory work on the main administration complex is also underway, with buildings to be installed once the accommodation village has been commissioned.

Meeka expects to have its high-grade Andy Well underground mine services to be established by March next year and to be in a position to commission the processing plant next June.

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