Monument Mining has made significant progress with its operational readiness work program at the Burnakura gold mine, which forms part of the Murchison Gold Project in Western Australia. The mine has progressed to early stage production which will bring forward cash flow to de-risk operations.
Monument’s president and CEO Robert Baldock said: “The arrival of the crushing circuit at the Burnakura site along with all off-site work being completed has reduced construction time by several months, according to our implementation plan. This will allow us to ramp up targeted gold production quicker than expected.”
With the mine optimisation, high grade ore will be processed through the CIL plant first while low grade ore will be stockpiled and processed through heap leach facilities, planned to be constructed during the second year of gold commercial production.
The internal economic study, including the geological models, mine plans, engineering works and economic analysis, has been sent to independent consultants for due diligence review.
Additional metallurgical test work and detailed mine delivery schedules for certain deposits are scheduled for completion early this year to mitigate the construction and operation risks, and lift a level of confidence to achieve targeted economic viability.
The internal economic assessment shows that the life of mine for early stage production could potentially be extended.
The operational readiness work for early stage production of the CIL plant circuit commenced in April 2016, with the off-site work being awarded to Como Engineers to complete.
The off-site engineering design, refurbishment and procurement work has been completed on long lead items, including the purchase of a new TRIO CT2436 jaw crusher to replace the existing crusher on site, new and refurbished feed /discharge conveyors together with supporting steel works, self-cleaning magnet, triple deck screen and refurbished secondary Symons 51 cone crusher and a fully integrated MCC for plant control.
The first delivery to the Burnakura mine site from Como Engineers occurred in mid-December. The crushing circuit was unloaded at Burnakura and ready for assembly and installation at the mine site, in early 2017, subject to completion of funding arrangements.
The heap leach plant equipment, including stackers and agglomerator, is now stored adjacent to the proposed heap pad.
The scoping work to complete early recommissioning of the CIL plant was completed in August 2016 ready for planned fabrication in 2017. A site inspection was completed with Como Engineers and a detailed proposal for primary secondary and tertiary crushing circuit, together with CIL feed plan and CIL recommissioning plan was proposed and a construction schedule was developed for implementation. Off-site work has reduced construction time by several months.
In October 2016 the project received approval from the Department of Environmental Regulation (DER) for operation of the proposed 500,000 tonne/annum heap leach facility. A mining proposal was submitted in December and it is anticipated that the mine closure plan will be submitted this month, which will complete all DER licensing requirements for operational readiness.
Monument is an established Canadian gold producer that owns and operates the Selinsing Gold Mine in Malaysia. It is advancing several exploration and development projects including the Mengapur Polymetallic Project, in Pahang State of Malaysia, and the Murchison Gold Projects comprising Burnakura, Gabanintha and Tuckanarra in the Murchison area of Western Australia.
Monument Mining