Dacian Gold has met its goal of achieving a December start to commercial production at the Mt Morgans gold operation near Laverton, Western Australia.
The company has high hopes for the $200 million project, having declared itself “Australia’s next 200,000 ounces per annum gold producer”.
Mt Morgans is one of the largest gold mines to begin production in Australia in recent years.
Last month, the company stated that it was on track to establish a 10-year mine life at Mt Morgans following a 16 per cent increase in total ore reserves to 1.4 million ounces and a 3.5 million ounce mineral resource.
This also included a 17 per cent upgrade to the Westralia deposit, one of the two largest deposits at the operation alongside the Jupiter open pit, which is 16 kilometres from Westralia.
Last month, the company made significant progress by achieving first ore from Allanson, the third of three mining declines at the Westralia deposit. Each of Westralia’s three declines is expected to average 1000 tonnes of ore a day.
The company also posted strong results for the December quarter, totalling 37,930 ounces of gold, a 30 per cent increase on the previous quarter.
Dacian Gold executive chairman and chief executive officer Rohan Williams said the production ramp-up was in line with the company’s objective of increasing quarterly production levels throughout the 2019 financial year.