Black Cat Syndicate has achieved first gold through its recently acquired 1.2-million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) Lakewood processing facility.
Approximately 60,000 tonnes (t) of ore has been hauled from the Myhree deposit to Lakewood, which is within 40km of the Kal East gold project in Western Australia.
Unreconciled production has totalled 42,000t at 2.10 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 2740 ounces (oz) produced.
Following Lakewood’s acquisition in March and initial hauling to the site, the first pour exceeded expectations by producing 757oz of gold.
“The commencement of processing through Lakewood has started well with throughputs, grade and recoveries all above expectation,” Black Cat managing director Gareth Solly said. “First gold at Lakewood is yet another successful milestone in the accelerated Kal East plan.
“With an active drilling program now underway, Black Cat enters an exciting period of gold production with substantial exploration potential.”
The company is undertaking surface drilling at Kal East from now until July, with mining at the Myhree and Boundary open pits to occur between now and October.
Underground drilling also continues at the Paulsens project, with seismic target drilling to take place from May to July at Paulsens West and regional exploration to take place from June to September.
Black Cat recently received approval for underground mining at its Myhree deposit, which is set to commence once open pit operations are completed in October.
The Kal East project comprises approximately 650km2 of highly prospective ground with a resource of 18.8Mt at 2.1g/t of gold for 1.29 million ounces.
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