MinRes to put lithium mine in ice, to cut 300 jobs
The company will put its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia under care and maintenance starting this week.
Karora Resources (TSX: KRR) announced on Monday a significant increase in gold resources at its flagship Beta Hunt mine. The updated measured and indicated resource totalled 1.35 million gold ounces (16.9 million tonnes grading 2.5 g/t), representing a 20% increase over the previous estimate.
The inferred resource also increased by 34% to 1.05 million ounces, contained in 12.4 million tonnes grading 2.6 g/t.
The update is highlighted by the net additions to the Western Flanks zone of 146,000 ounces in the measured and indicated resource category and 338,000 ounces inferred. Proven and probable reserves also increased by 12%, or 56,000 ounces, to 538,000 ounces.
“The bulk of our mined tonnes and ounces at Beta Hunt are currently sourced from Western Flanks, our largest mineralized shear zone. In 2022, we significantly expanded this zone both along strike and at depth, resulting in a 19% increase in measured and indicated resources and an increase of 77% in inferred resources,” Paul Andre Huet, CEO of Karora, commented.
He added that the large primary shear zone has now been delineated to a strike length of 1.8 kilometres and over 550 metres down-dip, but still remains open at depth, providing “significant potential” for further expansion.
The Beta Hunt mine is located 600 km from Perth in Kambalda, Western Australia. The project is characterized by a deposit hosting both gold and nickel resources in adjacent discrete mineralized zones.
The mining tenements on which the Beta Hunt mine is located are held by Gold Fields. Karora operates the Beta Hunt mine by virtue of a sub-lease agreement with the South African gold miner.
The underground mine is currently undergoing an expansion of doubling its operating capacity of approximately 1 million tonnes per annum, which is set to be completed this quarter.
“Our success in expanding the Beta Hunt mineral resource is a critical step in continuing to feed an extended mine life as we increase production rates over the next couple years,” Huet said. “Once the expanded Beta Hunt mining capacity is fully ramped up to its targeted capacity of 2 Mtpa, approximately 80% of our mill feed will come from our flagship Beta Hunt mine.”
In 2023, the company aims to further upgrade the mineral resources and expand on its reserve base at Beta Hunt, where it has discovered numerous parallel shear zones over the last several years.
