Gold miner Beacon Minerals Ltd (ASX:BCN) has achieved an important milestone for its MacPhersons project in Western Australia, kicking off both the mining and processing of ore from a new open pit, following extensive development on-site.
Beacon said that first ore from the MacPhersons Reward open pit had been mined and milled starting on August 16, adding to ore from across the project which was now being milled.
MacPhersons Reward holds a mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 282,000 tonnes at 1.32 grams per tonne of gold for 12,000 ounces.
The company said it expected to expand its production in the 2024 December quarter by 6500 ounces, following weaker production in the previous two quarters as a result of higher-than-expected rainfall and the processing of viscous clay ores from Panel 3/Geko low grade stockpiles.
The latter ore will now be blended with the fresh hard ore from MacPhersons.
The milling process is taking place at the Jaudi plant 45 kilometres from the MacPhersons project – itself 5 kilometres south of Coolgardie – with this including both a ROM pad and mill.
Beacon said that a new mobile cone crusher had been commissioned during this stockpile establishment phase, and a blend of transitional and fresh ore would be the initial ore processed moving to fresh ore in September/October 2024.
Beacon Mienrals has been trading at 2.2 cents.