Alkane Resources has announced a plan to extend the mine life of the Tomingley gold mine in Australia beyond 2030 by developing the Roswell and San Antonio deposits with an investment of around AUD87m ($67.25m).
Producing gold since early 2014, Tomingley will now be operated till at least 2031. The mine is located in central western New South Wales.
Its life of mine (LOM) plan calls for developing the Roswell and San Antonio deposits as open cut and underground operations. Mining from the two deposits, located immediate south of the existing mining lease, will begin in FY 2023.
Alkane Resources is expected to filed an environmental impact statement for seeking approval of the extension project in the coming quarter. The project is expected to get approval in mid-2022.
The company’s current LOM plan shows the production of nearly 745,000 ounces of gold (oz) for the period. Processing will be ramped up to a 1.5 million tonne per annum feed rate.
Currently, the Tomingley gold mine is producing from the Wyoming One, Wyoming Three, Caloma, and Caloma Two deposits.
Alkane Resources managing director Nic Earner said: “With existing underground and open cut operations we are well placed to incorporate the new Resources defined by Alkane’s exploration team at the nearby Roswell and San Antonio deposits.
“We intend to increase our processing throughput and ramp production to over 100,000 ounces per year from FY25, whilst continuing production at the current run rate in the interim. With the high-grade Roswell deposit open at depth, there is real potential for further increases in production in the late 2020s.”
The Roswell and San Antonio deposits are estimated to hold resources of 660,000oz and 406,000oz, respectively.
According to Alkane Resources, there is significant upside potential to extend the Roswell underground operation and sustain production over the FY28- FY31 period at or near FY25 to FY27 levels, and beyond.
The development of the two deposits would need the diversion of the Newell Highway onto land which has been already bought by the company. Ore from the two deposits is planned to be processed at the existing Tomingley Gold Operations facility.
