- Tombola Gold (TBA) kicks of mining activities at the Comstock Gold Mine
- Samples have been sent for assaying before TBA marks out high-grade areas for traditional open cut mining
- Rehabilitation of Mt Freda’s raw water dam is almost complete
- Shares closed up 2.56 per cent at four cents apiece
Tombola Gold (TBA) has kicked off mining activities, including the first drill and blast, at the Comstock Gold Mine in Queensland.
Samples from the blast have been sent to the laboratory for assaying, with TBA awaiting their return before marking out high-grade areas for mining via traditional open cut methods.
Meanwhile, the company said the rehabilitation of the Mt Freda raw water dam (RWD) was nearing completion, with just the keyway to be finalised.
On completion, the RWD will be used to store water for use in the Mt Freda vat leach carbon in column (CIC) gold processing plant.
Notably, TBA said Mt Freda’s natural underground water had a pH of 8.5 and therefore required only a small addition of dehydrated lime to increase the pH required for cyanide leaching in the 40,000-tonne vats.
The company has lodged the final documentation needed to obtain environmental authority (EA) approval, which is required before it can commence construction.
Once approval is granted for the mining lease at Mt Freda, TBA’s mining fleet will commence building the first cyanide vat leach and associated process ponds to be used for gold processing of the area’s ore.
Looking ahead, Tombola said it would consider scheduling the second blast at Comstock as soon as mining of the first 42,000 tonnes of ore was complete and waste removed.
The company will then look at scheduling the first blast for the Mt Freda open cut pit.
In the meantime, diamond core drilling is continuing at the Shamrock tenement to identify areas of near-surface gold.
Shares closed up 2.56 per cent at four cents apiece.