Classic Minerals applies final touches at Kat Gap as mining begins this month

Western Australia-focused explorer Classic Minerals (ASX: CLZ) will be producing gold by the end of this month with two vital installations taking place this week.

First, there has been the hook-up of a Vibrating Wire Piezometers (VWP) telemetry network at its flagship Kat Gap project in the Forrestania region.

The company says this is a crucial component of the tailings storage facility, the VWP allowing comprehensive monitoring of groundwater pressures within and beneath the banks holding the tailings.

Power to fire up processing plant

In the second development, Classic has now installed a 2-megawatt power plant.

This plant provides what the company says is more than sufficient electricity to run the current infrastructure at Kat Gap.

This means the mine’s Gekko processing plant can be switched on this month.

Once the power plant has been commissioned, Classic will begin gold production. This expected to begin before the end of June.

Diesel rebate will apply

The Cummins powered generators will ensure a reliable and consistent supply of electricity, says Classic.

Simulation testing of the power plant is expected to be completed by the end of next week.

Classic Minerals will also be able, from July 1, to draw on the government diesel fuel rebate, which now stands at $0.36 per litre.

Will also treat tailings

“Classic Minerals will now be able to treat and process its own ore in its own gold processing plant,” the company stated.

Furthermore, the Gekko plant will be able to re-process any gold present in the tailings.

Kat Gap contains a shallow unmined gold deposit located 170km south of Southern Cross, discovered in the 1990s. It was the subject of a scoping study in 2003 by the former Sons of Gwalia, once the third largest gold producer in Australia until its collapse in 2004.

Classic has previously described the gold mineralisation there as “impressive with exceptional shallow high-grade gold in its drill holes”.

Its current resource at its overall Forrestania project stands at 8.24 million tonnes at 1.52 grams per tonne gold, for a contained 403,906oz.

At present Classic holds 578 sq km of tenements across two major regional exploration areas in Western Australia.

Kat Gap has been the company’s primary focus so far.