- Westgold Resources (WGX) begins mining operations at the Fender underground mine within the Cue Gold Operation in Western Australia
- Fender was previously mined by Normandy Mining in the 1990s and Westgold completed a pit cut-back in 2020 which took it to a vertical depth of 100 metres
- It has an indicated mineral resource of 677,000 tonnes at 3.06g/t gold and a probable ore reserve of 614,000 tonnes of ore at 2.69g/t gold
- Upcoming operations will incur low capital development and a low execution risk
- On market close, Westgold was up 1.81 per cent on the market with shares trading at $1.13
Westgold Resources (WGX) has begun mining operations at the Fender underground mine within the Cue Gold Operation in Western Australia.
Fender was previously mined by Normandy Mining in the 1990s and Westgold completed a pit cut-back in 2020 which took it to a vertical depth of 100 metres.
It has an indicated mineral resource of 677,000 tonnes at 3.06g/t gold for 67,000 ounces of contained gold and a probable ore reserve of 614,000 tonnes of ore at 2.69g/t gold for 53,000 ounces of contained gold.
Previous drilling has returned intercepts of 13 metres at 5.1g/t gold from 156 metres and nine metres at 4.72g/t gold from 212 metres and was confirmed by recent drilling from Westgold.
Operations will incur low capital development as Westgold will use equipment and infrastructure from the Big Bell trend.
There is also a low execution risk with Westgold to use simple geology and mining methods.
“Westgold is focused on leveraging existing capital, driving our cost base down and profitability up in FY23. Fender achieves these objectives by utilising a simple mining method, and with high confidence in the geological model, execution risk is low,” Managing Director Wayne Bramwell said.
“Bringing Fender online also gives Westgold optionality to alter the mix of our production sources to better maximise profit, without impacting group production or our long-term scale objectives.
“This mine can grow, and we are confident that with additional resource drilling over the next 12-18 months Fender can contribute more to our growth aspirations.”
On market close, Westgold was up 1.81 per cent on the market with shares trading at $1.13.