Kairos Minerals appoints GRES for Mt York scoping study

Kairos Minerals (ASX: KAI) has awarded GR Engineering Services a contract to complete a scoping study on its Mt York gold project in WA’s Pilbara.

The study will assess an ore process of 4mtpa with modelling variations at 3mtpa and 5mtpa.

Mt York has total gold resources of 49.24mt @ 1.02g/t gold for 1.61moz, with attention to grow the resources above 2moz.

An internal valuation by Kairos, under the guidance of GR Engineering Services (GRES), indicated that the best commercial outcomes for the project were delivered using process rates higher than 1mtpa.

Testwork of fresh metallurgical samples indicate that the gold in non-refractory, easily leached and would likely yield to a simple carbon-in-leach process route.

GRES will manage the scoping study and deliver process design criteria, preliminary mass and water balance, major equipment selection, preliminary mechanical equipment lists and a capital and operating cost estimate.

Kairos managing director Dr Peter Turner commented on the scoping study.

“The decision to conduct the study is based on a host of data, including a vast amount of drilling, advanced metallurgical tests and a positive internal valuation exercise,” he said.

“We believe Mt York has very strong technical and financial potential and that it has reached the point where an independent scoping study by a highly regarded firm such as GRES is completely warranted.

“In parallel with the study, Kairos will continue assessing the scope to grow the resource beyond 2moz.”

The scoping study will take between nine to 10 weeks to complete with results to be announced when completed.