Gold Road Resources Limited and Gruyere Mining Company Pty Ltd, a member of the Gold Fields Limited Group, have advised that construction is progressing at the Gruyere Gold Project.
Gruyere is located approximately 200 kilometres east of Laverton in Western Australia. The project is a 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) between Gold Road and Gold Fields.
Gold Fields is managing the development of Gruyere and will also manage the operation of the mine, while Gold Road retains responsibility for exploration on joint venture (JV) tenements.
Today, the JV announced that construction on the Gruyere process plant is nearing completion (at 97 per cent) with finishing works in progress across the site and progressive handover to commissioning. It was further detailed that the primary crushing system was commissioned in January with material being delivered to the coarse ore stockpile.
The Gruyere Power Station and high voltage sub-stations across the site are fully commissioned, enabling power supply for commissioning activities.
Water systems around the process plant are fully commissioned, as is the Yeo Borefield in the southern section, which has delivered water to the main transfer station ahead of the process plant.
Dry commissioning activities are also progressing, including the coarse ore reclaim and mill feed circuits, the grinding area SAG and Ball Mills, CIL, thickeners and reagents areas.
From the start of construction in early 2017 to the end of the March 2019 quarter, Gruyere has mined 4.9 million BCM of material from the open pit. To date, approximately 800,000 tonnes of ore have been mined and stockpiled in preparation for the process plant start-up.
During the initial stages of plant commissioning and ramp-up, lower grade stockpiled ore is expected to be processed to reduce gold losses associated with lower recoveries (anticipated as the plant operations are stabilised).
The JV has advised that Gruyere remains on target for first gold production in the second half of the June 2019 quarter. Gruyere is expected to produce between 100,000 and 120,000 ounces (on a 100 per cent basis) of gold in 2019. Once steady state production is achieved, the average annual production is forecast to hit 300,000 ounces. Following this, the plant is anticipated to ramp-up to nameplate capacity over a period of six to seven months.
More information on the project can be found here.
