Brightstar gets greenlight for Lord Byron

Brightstar Resources (ASX: BTR) has received approval from the WA Government to begin production at its Lord Byron open pit gold mine at its Laverton Hub in WA.  

The project is on track for development and production in H2 CY26 after receiving approval from the WA Department of Mine, Petroleum and Energy (DPME) for Lord Byron’s mining proposal and closure plan.  

Brightstar’s managing director Alex Rovira says Lord Byron mine is pivotal to accelerating gold production growth in the company’s Laverton Hub. 

“Importantly, the Lord Byron open pit is located less thank 10km from our operational Fish underground mine, with surface infrastructure items already in place as a result of the construction of Fish resulting in streamlined, low capex development,” he said. 

“This allows Brightstar to rapidly commence development of the Lord Byron open pit to coincide with our proposed mill construction, due to commence H1 CY26. 

“Recent exploration efforts at Lord Byron point to material upside to the current mineral resource and potential for additions to the current mine plan. Drill hole LBRC25001 returned a spectacular result of 32m @ 7.16g/t Au which was directly below the bottom of the proposed Lord Byron south open pit.” 

The Stage 1 Lord Byron mine comprises a single open pit containing 1.6mt @ 1.4g/t for 71koz produced, a strike length of 1km and depth of up to 130m. 

Brightstar continues to advance construction and development activities across its Laverton project with detailed engineering on the processing plant and the final permitting and approval of the mill currently underway.