Kingwest Resources announced it is ready to start mining at its Menzies gold project after signing a toll mining agreement with St Barbara.
This was the last agreement needed to formally complete the joint venture (JV) to commence production and will see St Barbara process the ore at its Leonora operation in WA.
“It is fantastic to receive confirmation from St Barbara that our Selkirk ore will be processed at the Leonora operations, located approximately 100km north of our Menzies gold project via the sealed Goldfields Highway,” Kingwest executive chairman Greg Bittar said.
Planned mining operations at Menzies can now commence, with a fleet of 100-tonne rigid dump trucks being used for initial waste movement before a smaller fleet of 40-tonne trucks will be deployed to help reduce ore loss.
“We are excited that Kingwest will now be moving into production with our JV partners and hope to capitalise on the extraordinary Australian gold price – which is nearly $3000 per ounce,” Bittar said.
“We are looking forward to sharing further information as the Selkirk JV progresses, including key milestones such as mining commencement, ore mining activities, haulage operations and first gold pour as the project develops.”
The Menzies area is one of WA’s major historic gold fields, located north of the globally significant deposits of Kalgoorlie and covering a contiguous land package over a strike length in excess of 15km.
Kingwest began drilling at Menzies in November 2022 after acquiring the site in 2019. The site had previously produced nearly 787,200 ounces at 19-grams-per-tonne gold from predominantly narrow, high-grade shoots.