Dalgaranga to deliver more for Gascoyne

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold developer Gascoyne Resources has increased its production expectations for the Dalgaranga gold project, in Western Australia, following a March resource upgrade.

The ASX-listed company now expects the openpit operation to deliver 623 000 oz of gold over the six-year mine life, instead of the previous estimate of 580 000 oz, with some 244 000 oz to be recovered in the first two years of operation.

The updated mine plan resulted from a 110 000 oz increase in the mineral resource, announced in March this year, which increased to 27.6-million tonnes, grading 1.3 g/t gold for 1.13-million ounces of contained gold.

Gascoyne on Wednesday noted that the new production profile excluded the recently discovered Sly Fox deposit, which could add a further 77 000 oz to the resource base, and was expected to improve the production profile in the third and fourth year of operation.

However, the company added that the exact impact was yet to be determined as exploration was ongoing in the region.

Meanwhile, Gascoyne has told shareholders that while debt financing for the project was progressing well, it was taking longer than anticipated owing to the improved project parameters since the completion of the feasibility study in late 2016.

The company added, however, that with the equity funding secured in March this year and some A$53-million cash in the bank, the debt financing was not delaying the development of the project, with the project still on track to start ore commissioning in the second quarter of 2018.