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Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL) has achieved first stoping ore at Plutonic East, a former underground mine in Western Australia which has been in care and maintenance since 2012.
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Catalyst has been working on bringing Plutonic East back online since last year.
Located two kilometres from the Plutonic processing plant, Plutonic East has lain dormant since its last mining activity under Barrick – up to 2012 – when the gold price was around A$1,500 per ounce. (It’s now A$4,749).
In April 2024, Catalyst started dewatering the open pit and underground workings, with a mine starter pack commissioned in July, kicking off rehabilitation activities.
This was followed by the arrival of a surface rig in August, which undertook infill drilling in ore zones delineated in the mine plan; full-time control drilling and underground rehabilitation was progressed from there to the end of 2024.
For the past three months, the long-dormant site has had a dedicated fleet, with crews working busily and completing surface infrastructure such as a power plant, crib room, office, and dome shelter workshop, and the first stoping zones being approached systematically.
The resource has been delineated as holding 2.2 million tonnes at 2.5 grams per tonne for 182,000 ounces of gold. In this is 0.9Mt at 2.8g/t Au for 80,000oz in the indicated category plus 1.3Mt at 2.4g/t Au for 102,000oz in the inferred category.
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“Catalyst’s focus has always been about the long-term value of the Plutonic Gold Belt, not just the Plutonic main underground mine,” managing director and CEO James Champion de Crespigny said.
“Plutonic East coming online is the first step in realising the value of the belt.
“It gives more ore sources and more options to our team and lowers the operating risk profile of the business.”
Catalyst shares moved up 3.4% on the news to trade at $4.56.
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