TIDMGWMO
RNS Number : 7091B
Great Western Mining Corp. plc
06 June 2023
GREAT WESTERN MINING CORPORATION PLC
("Great Western", "GWM" or the "Company")
Gold & Silver Processing Update
Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (AIM - GWMO, Euronext
Growth - 8GW), which is exploring and developing multiple
early-stage gold, silver and copper targets in Nevada, USA, is
pleased to provide an update on its Western Milling gold and silver
processing project.
Highlights
-- Concrete work ongoing. Process equipment at location
-- Special Use Permit now granted with NDEP approval expected August 2023
-- Guidance on plant capacity and anticipated recoveries
-- Independent calculations of material available for processing
-- First revenues expected this year
Background
In 2022 Great Western formed Western Milling LLC, a 50-50 joint
venture ('JV') with Nevada-based mining contractor Muletown
Enterprizes to construct a mill for processing precious metals.
Great Western's claims in the Walker Lane Trend of Nevada are not
only prospective for gold and silver but also have large volumes of
spoil and other material from historic mines, particularly at the
Mineral Jackpot and Olympic Gold properties, which are available
for processing into precious metals through this mill. The material
consists of tailings, multiple spoil heaps and a stockpile of mined
material which has never previously been processed, independently
evaluated. Further material is widely dispersed over Great
Western's 60km(2) of claims and has yet to be assessed, while the
JV may also buy in material from third parties. Phase one of the
project consists of gravity separation and phase two will use
contained chemical leaching for further recovery. The mill is
currently under construction and is due to be producing gold and
silver concentrates this year.
Joint Venture
Under the JV agreement, Muletown is providing a mill site on
private land, a large inventory of plant and equipment and
supervision of construction. Great Western is financing the
construction and commissioning of the mill and has the funds
available to meet this commitment.
The mill site is located adjacent to a major north-south highway
close to the settlement of Mina, Mineral County, Nevada,
approximately midway between Great Western's Mineral Jackpot and
Olympic Gold properties. Mains power and water are available and
there is ample space for the laydown of material awaiting process.
Each partner has its own raw material available for processing
which will be batch-processed and not commingled, except where the
JV itself decides to buy in third party material and process it
jointly. The JV will be a profit centre and earn a throughput fee
from whoever owns the material being processed.
Construction Status
Groundwork at the mill site commenced in February 2023 but
further progress was delayed by an extended late recurrence of
severe winter weather conditions. With improved conditions,
concrete is currently being set and should be completed in the next
few days. As well as initial gravity separation, the design of the
mill caters for the requirements of the leaching operation which is
planned as a second phase. When the concrete work has been
completed, the team will assemble and install the mill plant and
equipment. Virtually all the equipment needed is now available and
located close to the mill. A simplified flow diagramme of the plant
design has been uploaded to the Company's website under the
"Priorities / Production" section.
Permitting
The JV has been formally granted a 'Special Use Permit' for
establishment of the mill by the County Commissioners of Mineral
County, Nevada. A permit to produce gold and silver from the mill
has been filed with NDEP (Nevada Department for Environmental
Protection) and is expected to have completed all the approval
stages by August this year. Once approval for the gravity plant has
been secured, production operations will be permitted and the JV
will then lodge a further application with NDEP for approval of the
phase 2 contained chemical leaching plant, designed to enhance gold
and silver recovery.
Material
Great Western's feedstock of material to be processed at the
mill will initially come from the Mineral Jackpot group of claims
comprising five historic gold and silver mines and the 800-acre
Olympic Gold Project. The mill will be suitable for processing new
ore from shallow mining operations when available and the wider
area is rich in mining waste, some of which the JV will negotiate
to purchase at a later stage.
Prior to committing to the JV, Great Western commissioned an
independent resource report on a large tailings heap at Olympic
Gold, tailings being relatively easier to evaluate than spoil
heaps, and this resulted in a JORC-compliant Inferred Resource
based on the results of auger drilling carried out by the Company
in 2022. The report also provided JORC-compliant Exploration
Targets for multiple spoil heaps at Mineral Jackpot and a stockpile
at Olympic Gold. The results of the report can be found on the
Company's website under "News" in an RNS dated 9 November 2022. The
table below indicates the metal potentially available from
processing the assessed material, based on the volumes and grades
reported and announced, ranging from a low case to a high case. The
quantities below are expressed in Troy ounces ('oz') and the
Company estimates that it will be able to recover an aggregate 80%
of the reported quantities through a combination of the gravity
separation and leaching processes.
Au Metal Ag Metal
Low Case (oz) (oz)
Olympic Gold Tailings - Inferred Mineral
Resource 1,600 3,000
--------- ---------
Olympic Gold Tailings - Exploration Target
for underlying material 50 150
--------- ---------
Olympic Gold Stockpile - Exploration Target 300 600
--------- ---------
Mineral Jackpot Spoil Heaps - Exploration
Target 30 5,500
--------- ---------
Total 1,980 9,250
--------- ---------
Au Metal Ag Metal
High Case (oz) (oz)
Olympic Gold Tailings - Inferred Mineral
Resource 1,600 3,000
--------- ---------
Olympic Gold Tailings - Exploration Target
for underlying material 250 400
--------- ---------
Olympic Gold Stockpile - Exploration Target 900 1,900
--------- ---------
Mineral Jackpot Spoil Heaps - Exploration
Target 60 35,000
--------- ---------
Total 2,810 40,300
--------- ---------
Costs & Revenues
Plant capacity will be up to 5 tonnes per hour of feedstock but
there is likely to be an initial period of lower volumes before the
plant is running consistently. Plant capacity can subsequently be
increased in excess of 5 tonnes per hour when needed with only
minor investment and without a commensurate increase in operating
expense. The recoverable tailings at Olympic Gold alone are
estimated to be 31,000 tonnes.
The main operating costs at the mill are labour, power and
water. The plant will be manned by a minimum of two operatives, for
safety reasons, possibly supported by a third during busy periods.
The JV's aim will be to operate the mill for 70 or more hours per
week for plus or minus 48 weeks per year to allow for maintenance
and possible weather downtime. In the early stages there may be
downtime while the plant is fine-tuned or modified.
The mill's end-product will be a gold and silver concentrate
which will be sold in bulk to a refinery, with an expectation that
approximately 90% of the final gold and silver value will be
obtained.
Further information will be provided as the construction project
progresses.
Great Western Chairman Brian Hall commented: "At the end of 2020
we produced a doré bar from waste material collected at Mineral
Jackpot. Since then, we have established a working production
partnership, identified and evaluated greatly increased volumes of
material for processing, found an ideal site and are now
constructing a mill which will produce precious metals this year.
This is a transformational move and an exciting time for Great
Western, aimed at producing first revenues and funded directly by
shareholders without recourse to any special financing arrangements
which could have created a burden for the Company. In parallel we
have a busy season of exploration across our numerous prospects, on
which we will be reporting in due course".
For further information:
Great Western Mining Corporation PLC
Brian Hall, Chairman +44 207 933 8780
Max Williams, Finance Director +44 207 933 8780
Davy (NOMAD, Euronext Growth Listing
Sponsor & Joint Broker)
Brian Garrahy +353 1 679 6363
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Joint
Broker)
Ewan Leggat/Harry Davies-Ball +44 203 470 0470
Walbrook PR (PR advisers)
Nick Rome +44 207 933 8783
Notes to Editors
The Company has a large tract of acreage in Mineral County,
Nevada. The area consists of rugged, mountainous terrain, which
means that large parts of it remain under-explored. Mineral
potential is hosted by the regional Walker Lane Structural Belt,
the largest structural and metallogenic belt in Nevada, yet one of
the least explored in recent times, with gold, silver and copper
currently produced in Mineral County. Great Western has seven
distinct concession areas which offer the potential for exploiting
(1) short term gold and silver deposits and (2) long-term,
world-class copper deposits.
Six of the Company's properties are in the west of Mineral
County and are 100% owned and operated. The Company has an option
to acquire a seventh property, the Olympic Gold Project, in the
east of the county. Great Western's small exploration team is
supported by locally based consultants and contractors.
The state of Nevada has recently been rated by the Fraser
Institute of Canada as the world's most mining friendly
jurisdiction. While tightly regulated and environmentally
conscious, Nevada welcomes the mining industry. Great Western takes
care to ensure that its claims are maintained in good standing and
all regulations observed.
There are numerous gold and silver prospects on the Company's
acreage, including extensive historic mine workings which offer the
opportunity for secondary recovery. The Company is party to a 50-50
joint venture known as Western Milling LLC which is constructing a
mill to process pre-mined material for secondary recovery of gold
and silver.
Furthermore, through extensive drilling over a five-year period,
GWM has established a Mineral Resource on its first target area
known as M2, of 4.3 million tonnes at 0.45% copper, for 19,000
tonnes of contained copper metal. This resource has been
independently reported in accordance with JORC guidelines.
GWM has established an Inferred Resource Estimate of 31,000
tonnes grading 1.6 g/t gold and 3.0 g/t silver in tailings for the
OMCO Mine at the Olympic Gold Project. It has also established
Exploration targets. In addition, the Company has reported an
Exploration Target as follows:
-- 3,400 - 6,400 tonnes grading between 0.5 and 1.2 g/t Au and
1.2 and 2.1 g/t Ag in the substrate beneath the tailings volume at
the Olympic Mine.
-- 9,000 - 12,000 tonnes grading between 0.9 and 2.4 g/t Au and
2.0 and 5.1 g/t Ag in a coarse stockpile at Olympic Mine.
-- 4,200 - 7,700 tonnes grading between 40 and 140 g/t Ag and
0.3 and 0.3 g/t Au in spoil heaps at Mineral Jackpot.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
UPDUVUNROOUNRAR
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 06, 2023 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Great Western Mining (AQSE:GWMO.GB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2024 to Dec 2024
Great Western Mining (AQSE:GWMO.GB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2023 to Dec 2024
