Auric Mining (ASX:AWJ), together with its joint venture partner BML Ventures, announced the start of a 142,000 tonne milling campaign at the Greenfields mill in a November 29 press release.
The mill will process ore from the Western Australia-based Jeffreys Find gold project, which is part of the Widgiemooltha gold property. Widgiemooltha also includes the Munda gold project.
Under the joint venture, BML acts as the miner, operator and manager of Jeffreys Find. This includes incurring and shouldering all mining, haulage and milling costs, as well as other related expenses.
Both companies have agreed to split the cash proceeds on a 50/50 basis.
The milling campaign at Greenfields is expected to run for seven weeks. According to Auric, the joint venture is on track to finish processing of 300,000 tonnes of ore at Greenfields from the project’s second stage.
“We’ve saved the best for last. All the ore going through the mill is high grade ore,” said Auric Managing Director Mark English in last week’s announcement. “We expect this campaign to produce the highest number of ounces for the year. With gold to be sold shortly it won’t be long before the first cash will be paid to Auric.”
Stage two mining began at Jeffreys Find in March of this year, with the first gold campaign wrapping up in May and the second finishing in September. The third gold campaign at the site is now in progress.
In a November 25 presentation, Auric notes that so far this year, 7,551 ounces of gold worth AU$27.95 million have been sold from the second phase of work at Jeffreys Find, equivalent to a sale price of AU$3,701 per ounce.
“With a very solid gold price, we couldn’t possibly be selling gold at a better time,” added English.
Gold has continued to trend higher throughout 2024, closing at AU$4,043.07 per ounce on December 2.
As the company prepares to finish mining at Jeffreys Find, it will move on to work at Munda, its flagship asset. Mining is due to begin at a starter pit at the project in the first quarter of 2025.
The milling campaign at Greenfields is set to be complete in January of the new year.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
