By Rachel Dally-Watkins
19 June, 2015
FIRST gold has been poured from ABM Resources high-grade Old Pirate deposit, within the greater Twin Bonanza project in the Northern Territory.
The company achieved the milestone in mid-June as part of the commissioning of the Coyote Processing Plant in WA, which it leases from Tanami Gold.
Utilising the existing plant, 77km from the deposit, significantly reduced the company’s capital expenditure requirements while reducing construction and commissioning risks. The plant has a capacity of 240,000 tonnes per annum with the ability for expansion.
The plant’s grinding circuits were operating at 30 tonnes per hour, while gravity gold circuit trials were also operational and leach tanks had been filled with ore slurry, cyanide solution and carbon. The first gold dore bar was poured from the initial gravity concentrate.
ABM managing director Darren Holden said the achievement was a great milestone for the company.
“With momentum in mining and processing building we look forward to bringing one of Australia’s highest grade open pit gold deposits to fruition,” he said.
The Twin Bonanza project comprises the Old Pirate and Buccaneer deposits, as well as a regional area under exploration and development.
ABM is undertaking a staged development of Old Pirate to maximise risk management. The deposit has combined indicated and inferred resources of 1.7 million tonnes grading 11.7 grams per tonne of gold for 640,000oz of gold.
