Meeka Metals Begins Judy North Underground Development at Murchison Gold Project

Meeka Metals (ASX: MEK) has commenced development of the Judy North orebody in Western Australia, which has an initial resource of 96,000 ounces at 5.4 grams per tonne gold.

The orebody within the Andy Well underground mine at the flagship Murchison project has been accessed from an existing decline, with work underway on two levels and expected to commence on three additional levels in the June quarter.

Mining commenced at Andy Well in July with an initial focus on ore development at the Wilber lode while work was completed in the March quarter to establish access to Judy North.

Meeka plans to commence development at the Suzie lode by September.

Andy Well Mining Strategy

Meeka’s mining strategy at Andy Well involves the development of multiple shallow (within 200m of surface) ore levels across the Wilber, Judy and Suzie areas, all accessed from the existing decline to provide rapid low-cost mine establishment.

The work is being performed under the company’s owner-operator model, providing further cost advantages.

In October, Meeka reported grades of more than 100g/t in the first ore from Andy Well, exceeding those predicted in the company’s grade control model.

Andy Well hosts a resource of 1.2 million ounces grading 3g/t gold.

Typically High Gold Grades

Managing director Tim Davidson said Judy North had already shown grades typical of Andy Well mineralisation.

“While Judy North is a new mining area with no previous development history, it clearly displays the same very high gold grades that are typical of the other active mining areas at Andy Well,” he said.

“Drilling has defined the Judy North resource a further 500m below our current development horizon and, based on this drilling, we expect the grade to improve with depth.”

Meeka has commenced a $6 million upgrade of processing facilities to boost throughput and accelerate gold production at the Murchison project, which covers the northern extent of the highly prospective Mount Magnet and Youanmi Shear Zones.

The scope of work will include the installation of an additional crushing circuit, wash plant, and Steinert multi-sensor ore sorter to unlock up to 200,000 tonnes per annum of additional mill capacity, increasing throughput to approximately 800,000tpa.