Dacian Gold has achieved another key development milestone at its Mount Morgans gold project, located 25 kilometers (km) southwest of Laverton in Western Australia, with underground mine development at Beresford intersecting first ore on October 4, four weeks ahead of schedule.
Underground mining commenced at Beresford in mid-May and, by the end of September, 1,837 meters (m) of underground development had been completed compared with the feasibility study schedule of 1,509 m, a total of 328m ahead of schedule.
The first ore, which was scheduled to be mined on November 5, was exposed on the 2297 access drive as planned, and comprised a highly sulphidized banded iron formation unit against a highly competent and visually distinct hanging wall basalt unit.
Beresford is one of the two underground mines that form part of the 1.6-million-ounce Westralia Mineral Resource at Mount Morgans. Mining is scheduled to commence this month at the second underground mine at Westralia, Allanson.
“Project construction at Mount Morgans is on time and on budget, ensuring we remain firmly on track to start production from March next year,” said Dacian Gold executive chairman, Rohan Williams. “At the same time, we are running a highly promising exploration campaign, including the ongoing drilling program at the emerging Cameron Well discovery, which has the potential to generate substantial growth at Mt Morgans and generate further significant value for shareholders.”
Dacian completed its IPO as a junior explorer less than five years ago and now has mined the first ore from the two 1-million-oz discoveries the group has made since then and, in less than 6 months, they will be Australia’s newest midtier gold producer.
