Pantoro and Tulla Resources have achieved the first gold pour at their jointly-owned Norseman gold project located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.
According to Pantoro, the doré poured from the gravity circuit was around 8kg and that production from the leaching circuit is currently in progress.
The company said that the processing plant of the Norseman gold project is operating without interruptions for the last eight days.
Pantoro expects to boost the mill throughput to nameplate capacity of 125 tonnes per hour during the course of the ongoing December 2022 quarter.
The Australian gold producer claimed that mining activities at the open pits of the Scotia mining centre and the OK underground mine are progressing with nearly 160,000 tonnes of ore stocks on the Run of Mine (ROM) and available for processing.
Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec said: “We are very pleased to confirm our first gold production at Norseman which represents the culmination of approximately three years of hard work.
“Norseman has been taken from a dormant site with no Ore Reserves or usable processing facility to full operational status. There have been some unexpected delays resulting from minor but frustrating equipment start up and control programming issues during commissioning, however we are confident that all of those issues have now been resolved and the plant is operating well.”
Located nearly 725km east of Perth, the Norseman gold project has a current mineral resource of 4.8 million ounces of gold. It has an ore reserve of 973,000 ounces.
The phase one definitive feasibility study (DFS) that was completed in late 2020 for the Norseman gold project outlined an initial seven-year mine plan that includes a centralised processing facility and combination of open pit and underground mining operations to produce nearly 108,000 ounces per annum.
Pantoro joined the project by acquiring a 50% stake in 2019 and since then has been the manager of the unincorporated joint venture with Tulla Resources.
