Navarre Minerals reports 43% increase in Mt Carlton gold production
The gold production increase reflected the first processing of ore from Navarre’s Mt Carlton United open pit blended with ore from V2.
Navarre Minerals (ASX: NML) has reported a 43% increase in gold production from the Mt Carlton operation for the three months ending 31 March, with continued strong contribution from silver and copper by-products.
Production jumped to 4,098 ounces over the previous quarter, reflecting the first processing of ore from the newly-commissioned Mt Carlton United (MCU) open pit blended with ore from the 1-million-ounce V2 open pit.
Payable metal production also included 159,907oz silver (a 6% decrease on the previous period) and 338 tonnes of copper (up 24%).
As production levels from MCU ramp up in the coming months, the proportion of MCU ore in the mill feed is projected to increase to the point where it is the dominant source.
Navarre’s unaudited cash balance at 31 March was $8.2 million.
Mt Carlton acquisition
Navarre paid $90 million to acquire the Mt Carlton operations in late 2021 from Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN).
The operation includes two open pits (at MCU and V2), four potential satellite gold deposits and a 960,000 tonnes per annum plant producing polymetallic concentrate (gold-copper-silver) and gold doré.
It is situated within a broader tenement package of approximately 815 square kilometres.
During the December quarter, Mt Carlton produced 2,873oz of gold, 170,092oz silver and 272t copper.
This was largely due to the processing of Stage 6 ore from the V2 open pit.
Cornerstone investment
In March, Navarre confirmed it would accelerate exploration at Mt Carlton after securing a $5 million cornerstone investment from US-based Lind Partners.
Lind founder Jeff Easton said the company had become a key stakeholder of Navarre during an “exciting time” in its journey.
“We have watched with interest since Navarre’s acquisition of the Mt Carlton operation and see great potential to increase production levels with new sources coming on-line and extend mine life through the company’s well-conceived exploration programs,” he said.
High-priority targets
In February, the re-processing and interpretation of legacy geophysical data highlighted 32 high-priority drill targets for the company.
The data covered the entire tenement package and featured various magnetic, gravity, radiometric, electrical and hyperspectral geophysical surveys.
The targets occur in clusters and form linear features interpreted to represent structurally-controlled mineral trends comprising potential multiple-stacked ore lenses.
Earlier this week, Navarre secured a Queensland government grant to support drill testing of one of the targets known as Southeast Induced Polarisation (SE IP), which has a footprint potentially larger in scale than the adjacent V2 pit.