Calidus Resources has announced record production rates at its Warrawoona gold project in East Pilbara, WA.
The company reported processing a total of 182,000 tonnes of ore at a grade of 0.89 gold per tonne (g/t), recovering 5005 ounces of gold for the month of February. This equates to 66,000 ounces of gold annualised, or 180 ounces per day.
Calidus is aiming to produce 31,000–36,000 ounces of gold at $2000–2250 for the first half of 2023. After these latest results, the company has indicated it remains on target.
“It is very pleasing to see Warrawoona continuing to improve in all aspects of operation on a month-by-month basis,” Calidus managing director Dave Reeves said.
“These continual improvements provide a solid base for a long-term, high-margin operation at Warrawoona and have allowed us to start turning our focus to the expansion projects which will take Warrawoona to 130,000 ounces per annum.”
In its December report, Calidus declared production of 12,544 ounces of gold for the quarter. A total of 191,000 tonnes at 0.85g/t was processed in December, yielding 5053 ounces of gold.
The company also clocked cash and cash equivalents of $12.4 million, as well as a debt repayment of $5 million, reducing its project loan facility to $102 million (now $97 million after February).
Calidus also spent $1.2 million on exploration activities for gold and lithium, which led to the discovery of a new high-grade gold deposit.
Drilling was conducted at the Blue Spec prospect – 70km from Warrawoona – and suggests the likelihood of two mineralisation styles: high-grade shear-hosted gold, and lower-grade, broad zones of gold hosted in sandstone.
Of the 31 holes drilled, 25 of them contain at least one significant intercept.