West Wits keeps 200,000 oz plan alive despite study blip

WEST Wits Mining is pressing ahead with plans to increase gold production from its Witwatersrand Basin Project to 200,000 ounces a year despite being unable to publish a scoping study on the expansion.Shares in the Australian-listed company fell 14.9% last week (August 27) after it halted its Project 200 study following discussions with the Australian Securities Exchange. West Wits shares closed at A$0.41 today, down 15.5% in a week.Berenberg Bank said the problem with the study was its use of a high proportion of inferred mineral resources. Less economic confidence is attached to inferred resources compared to measured resources, which is the highest level of confidence.West Wits’ annual report, published today, shows the company nevertheless considers the results encouraging enough to continue work on Project 200.“The company views the results of the scoping study as positive and as meeting its internal objectives, which were predominantly to enable a decision on the merits of progressing Project 200 into the pre-feasibility stage,” it said.“The company intends to continue to progress Project 200 and the development of the WBP through to the next level of studies.”The study assessed a 35-year mine plan for its broader Witwatersrand Basin Project (WBP), including options for a standalone processing plant, third-party toll treatment and bringing additional WBP ore sources into production.West Wits said 74% of the mineral resources included over the 35-year period were inferred, rising above 90% in some years.The high proportion of inferred resources meant the study, including the production target and financial information derived from it, did not meet ASX requirements for release.The miner said it would undertake further geological work aimed at moving more of the project’s gold resources out of the lower-confidence inferred category.Project 200 is intended to build on Qala Shallows, the first stage of the WBP.Qala Shallows is being ramped up towards production of about 70,000 oz/year, which West Wits expects to reach in its 2028/29 financial year.Higher gold prices have meanwhile increased the amount of gold West Wits considers economic to mine.The company said about one million oz was added to its mineral resource after higher gold-price assumptions made lower-grade ore economic to include.West Wits increased the gold price used in the calculation to $2,850/oz from $1,500/oz.A further 1.2 million oz was added after West Wits secured a new prospecting right, taking the Witwatersrand Basin Project’s total mineral resource to 7.24 million oz at 4g/t.The post West Wits keeps 200,000 oz plan alive despite study blip appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com