Kalgoorlie, Western Australia — It has been a big 12 months for
The company, now managed by former Barrick Gold chief Stephen Orr, is well-funded and has a sizable exploration program.
In his presentation at the Diggers & Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Chief Operating Officer Len Jubber said the stronger gold price has provided a positive environment for the company to list.
“We were able to take advantage of this opportunity with strong support from cornerstone shareholders during our listing and capital raising in March 2004,” he said. “At A$100 million, it was the largest initial public offer during the past twelve months.”
Jubber added that the company will be able to expand its New Zealand assets from 350,000 oz. and begin underground operations. “That growth will stem from the development of three new mines in the Macraes and Reefton goldfields [of Australia].”
Plans call for the creation of a 1.4-million-tonne-per-year central processing facility.
Also, development of the narrow-vein, high-grade, underground Blackwater mine at Reefton is under way. The mine is expected to produce 760,000 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 13.7 grams per tonne.
At Reefton, OceanaGold has been focused on expanding the Globe Progress open-cut mine. Already, four pits are planned.
The company also has its eye on a porphyry prospect: Sams Creek is responding well to early drilling — 750,000 oz. gold are calculated as inferred — and has potential for expansion along the 7 km of strike length.
OceanaGold now says it will initiate underground mining at Macraes, the grade of which was previously considered too low. “Exploration at Macraes previously has not progressed beyond the realms of economic open-pit mining,” Jubber said. “There is a resource of more than 1.5 million ounces of gold in the Round Hill and Innes Mills shoots, and we’ll be targeting these in the next couple of years.
Work on the Frasers Decline continues, and ore development should begin by the end of the first quarter of 2006. The Golden Bar deposit, 3 km farther south, remains open along strike and downdip.
Said Jubber: “Having recently created a vehicle to drive and fund the growth plan, the two key business objectives are to extract greater value from existing and future infrastructure and increase the average ore grade to complement the economies-of-scale already achieved at Macraes and Reefton.”
— This article originally appeared in Australia’s Paydirt magazine.
Be the first to comment on "Oceana expands assets"