Classic Minerals submits Kat Gap mining proposal, delivers gold processing plant to site
Classic Minerals plans to start mining operations and processing ore from its Gekko plant upon approval of the Kat Gap mine proposal.
Aspiring gold producer Classic Minerals (ASX: CLZ) is continuing to advance the planned development of its flagship Kat Gap gold project in Western Australia with the submission of two remaining applications for approval by the state mines department.
The company today announced it has lodged the Mining Proposal (including the Mine Closure Plan) application, as well as the Native Vegetation Clearing Permit application.
Meanwhile, the newly-commissioned Gekko gold processing plant is on its way from Classic’s industrial site in Perth to the Kat Gap site, located about 170km south of Southern Cross in WA’s eastern goldfields.
Mining proposal application
Classic said it expects it to take about three months for the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) to conduct the assessment process to approve the two applications.
Upon receiving approval for the mining proposal, the company said it will look to immediately commence mining and production operations and process the ore via its Gekko plant.
The submission of the mining proposal and native vegetation clearing permit applications follow the grant of the Kat Gap mining lease a month ago and native title approval earlier in May.
The next milestone to be achieved ahead of the commencement of mining and production involves agreements to use regional infrastructure and water access.
“Having now lodged applications for the final government approvals required prior to the commencement of mining operations at our flagship Kat Gap gold project, the company continues to meet the key milestones required to formally transform Classic from an explorer to a miner. We look forward to updating shareholders as additional milestones are reached,” Classic chairman John Lester said.
Mobilisation of processing plant
On Tuesday, Classic announced its recently assembled Gekko gold processing plant is now being transported to the Kat Gap site.
The plant has a 30 tonne-per-hour capacity and is scalable to a Gekko Python size plant with a processing capacity of 250 tph.
The company said the custom modular plant is engineered around structural elements that are easy to erect on-site and minimise civil and infrastructure costs.
“The Gekko plant has many features that make it amendable for the Kat Gap Gold mining operations and we believe that taking a modular approach to the plant is more cost efficient,” Mr Lester said.
The Kat Gap project
Classic holds a 100% interest in the gold rights on the Kat Gap tenements, as well as non-gold rights including but not limited to nickel, lithium and other metals.
The project has an initial JORC inferred resource of 92,869 ounces at 2.96 grams per tonne of gold with a conventional cyanide leach process proving a 95-96% recovery from both fresh and oxide samples.