Barton completes clean-out of Central Gawler mill, recovers 10t gold bearing materials

Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) has completed a clean-out and preservation program at its Central Gawler mill in South Australia to assist scope and cost estimates for recommissioning.

Queensland-based WFS Maintenance Resources was contracted to disassemble the mill’s gold room and gravity circuit, stripping all floors and sumps and cleaning all structural components and equipment before placing them in secure storage for re-installation at a later date.

Ball mills were also fully stripped of lifters and liners, and thoroughly cleaned.

More than 10 tonnes of gold-bearing materials have been recovered from the componentry and have been dispatched to secure off-site storage for processing and sale next year.

“Removing the gravity circuit, gold room and mill liners secures significant high-value materials for our shareholders, preserves high-value components and allows us to optimise the gravity circuit superstructure and flowsheet prior to restart,” the company said.

Gold sale

In June, Barton sold 379 ounces gold for $1 million to Perth-based precious metals specialist ABC Bullion after initial clean-up of the mill.

The sale represented an opportunity for the company to extract value from the asset to supplement its balance sheet and offset the cost of its various exploration programs.

ABC Bullion will make a balance or “top up” payment to Barton following final processing and sale of the gold recovered from the materials.

Mine camp divestment

The mill clean-out follows an announcement in November that Barton would divest a minority portion of the Central Gawler Craton mine camp for $725,000 plus GST.

This camp belongs to Barton’s wholly-owned subsidiary and is a part of the company’s broader infrastructure hub, which includes the Central Gawler mill.

The portion sold represents capacity which Barton says is surplus to its regional strategy and requirements.

This November sale follows the disposal in June of another minority portion of the camp for approximately $740,000.

Proceeds of both sales are being directed towards ongoing large-scale exploration programs at Barton’s Tarcoola and Tunkillia gold projects in South Australia.