Canadian-headquartered Monument Mining has confirmed that mining of high-grade sulphide ore has begun at its Selinsing gold operation in Pahang State, Malaysia.

The company said new mining equipment has been put into operation from the site’s Buffalo Reef, and mining production will soon achieve commercial production rates through a soon-to-be-commissioned sulphide treatment plant which is nearing nameplate capacity in readiness for gold concentrate sales.

The company added that its mining volume increased in March even after unexpected heavy rains in February. A monthly mining rate of 450,000 bank cubic meters (BCM) per month is planned to increase to 500,000 BCM.

“The mining team has been undertaking pre-stripping activities at the Buffalo Reef area since July 2022 and has now recently exposed significant areas of sulphide ores,” President and CEO Cathy Zhai commented.

“These higher-grade fresh ore zones will provide ample feed to enable the new processing plant to reach full production capacity in the coming weeks, and will allow the revenue stream from concentrate sales to commence which represents a new milestone in Monument Mining gold production in Malaysia.”

As of 28 February 2023, a total of 2.5 million BCM, or approximately 5.4 million tonnes, have been mined at the Buffalo Reef area. Waste movement included construction of the Buffalo Reef creek diversion of 1.2 million BCM, or 2.6 million tonnes. Ore mined includes approximately 93,000 tonnes of sulphide ores and 61,000 tonnes of oxide ores.

There are three main open pits in the Buffalo Reef area (BRC2, BRC3 and BRC4). A small satellite pit (BR North) is situated to the north about five kilometres from the process plant. The three main pits are designed within three separate mining stages to reduce waste stripping early on. The first stages of BRC2 and BRC3 open pits are currently being progressed to supply ore for the processing plant.

Monument Mining 100% owns and operates the Selinsing gold mine as well as the Murchison gold project in the Murchison area of Western Australia. It has a 20% interest in the Tuckanarra gold project jointly owned with Odyssey Gold Ltd in the same region.

Source: Monument Mining