Matilda development requires A$28m – Blackham

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Matilda gold mine, in Western Australia, would require a capital investment of some A$28-million, a prefeasibility study (PFS) has revealed.

ASX-listed Blackham Resources reported on Wednesday that the PFS estimated that the project could deliver an average 98 000 oz/y over a mine life of nearly five years, at a life-of-mine C1 cash cost of A$920/oz.

The project was expected to generate gross revenue of A$720-million, based on a gold price of A$1 550/oz, a net present value before tax of A$124-million and an internal rate of return of 105%.

“The Matilda gold project PFS has confirmed the robust cash flows that will be generated by the project, its capital efficient nature and that it can be brought into production rapidly,” said Blackham MD Bryan Dixon.

The PFS was based on a mining inventory of six-million tonnes, grading 2.8 g/t gold for 540 000 oz.

It was expected that the project would make use of mining contractors and would employ openpit operations for the Matilda, Williamson and Galaxy deposits, while two underground mines have also been designed for the Wiluna deposit.

Blackham was hoping to advance the Matilda gold project towards production by the second quarter of 2016.

The company in May signed a A$38.5-million funding facility with Orion Mine Finance to complete the development of Matilda.

Meanwhile, Blackham has pointed out that results from drilling programmes undertaken at Matilda, Galaxy and Williamson during September and October had not been included in the PFS, but would be used to revise the project’s resource as part of a definitive feasibility study (DFS).

“The DFS drill programmes and studies are well advanced, enabling the DFS to be completed by January 2016,” Dixon added.