GR Engineering Services to Commence Gold Conversion at Maritana Minerals’ Black Swan Plant

GR Engineering Services (ASX: GNG) has been engaged to commence early works on a gold conversion project at Maritana Minerals’ (ASX: MRT) wholly owned Black Swan processing hub near Kalgoorlie.

The scope of work will cover earthworks, demolition, detailed engineering, and long-lead equipment procurement to convert the existing plant to a 2.5-million-tonnes-per-annum gold carbon-in-leach operation.

Total procurement expenditure for the early works program inclusive of GR Engineering’s services has been estimated at $25 million.

The gold conversion project follows the completion of front-end engineering and design (FEED) and other studies which indicated a throughput increase based on the assessment of ore sources and the capability of existing crushing and grinding infrastructure at Black Swan.

Circuit Refurbishments

The program will include refurbishment of the plant’s crushing and grinding circuit and conversion of the single-stage SAG (semi-autogenous grinding) mill circuit to a SABC (semi-autogenous ball mill crusher) configuration.

The existing SAG and ball mills will be recommissioned using new motors and variable speed drives, with new circuits to be added for gravity separation, pre-leach thickening, leaching and adsorption, gold recovery, and reagents.

The works will also include new water treatment services, refurbishment of the tailings thickener, and installation of new tailings and decant return lines to the tailings storage facility.

The uplift could meaningfully enhance the project’s production capacity subject to further technical and economic studies, with a view to achieving an initial five-year life of mine producing an average 102,000 ounces of gold per year.

In-House Services

All engineering, procurement, estimating, and scheduling will be completed in-house by a GR Engineering team, retaining key personnel carried through from pre-feasibility and FEED phases to ensure continuity into execution.

Maritana has engaged project development services consultant Zeal Engineering as its “owner’s engineer” to oversee the delivery of the early works program, supporting engineering, construction, and commissioning of greenfield and brownfield elements of the conversion project, along with supporting the development of non-process infrastructure.

“The commencement of early works is a major step forward for the Black Swan processing hub, and will see site-based activities begin shortly as we transition from design to delivery,” Maritana chief executive officer Grant Haywood said.

“These steps de-risk costs and timing, which keeps us on track for our objectives of advancing toward full construction in Q3 CY2026 and producing first gold from the Black Swan hub in H2 CY2027.”