Ann: Ramelius to Acquire the Marda Gold Project, page-7

About: The Marda Gold Project, located near the town of Southern Cross in the Westonia Region of Western Australia, has received Western Australian Government approvals to proceed to the mining stage. The Marda Project is now in the position to further develop the gold resource at the site which contains 495,000 ounces of gold. The plan is mine the Marda deposit as an open cut operation that will return the company, Black Oak Minerals, approximately 167,000 ounces of gold over a four year mining period.
The Marda Project is Close to the Production Stage
The Marda Gold Project already comprises a gold processing plant, six open pits, a tailings facility and an accommodation camp for the mine workers. Water for the Marda Project will be sourced from underground bores and be treated before use.
Marda Project is Owned by Black Oak Minerals
The owner of the Marda Project is, Black Oak Minerals, an Australian exploration and mining company. Black Oak Minerals is currently in the process of starting up another mine, the Manuka Silver Mine, in central New South Wales. Once this mine is up and running, in early 2015, it will bring its Mt Boppy Gold Mine into production, later in the same year. The Mt Boppy Project is also located in central New South Wales. It is expected it will bring the Marda Gold Mine into production once the Manuka and Mt Boppy mines are successfully in the production stage. Black Oak Minerals holds around 1,700 square kilometres of mining tenements in the area surrounding the Marda Project which is known as the Marda-Diemals Greenstone Belt. The district has long been known as a highly prospective gold mining province. This has resulted in intensive exploration of the area.
Como Engineering Design Marda Gold Processing Plant
The Definitive Feasibility Study on the Marda Project gold carbon-in-pulp (CIP) processing plant and other infrastructure needs was carried out by Como Engineers Pty Ltd, a Perth based mining engineering company that was founded in 1986. Como Engineers Pty Ltd specialise in mechanical engineering and process metallurgy projects both in Australia and overseas.

The gold processing plant that was designed by Como Engineers to initially treat up to 480,000 tonnes of gold bearing ore that could be upgraded to one million tonnes. The plant includes a two stage crushing ball mill with an intensive gravity leaching system and a gravity gold recovery circuit. Carbon absorption is to be maintained by means of pulp leach that has a Como modular elution circuit and gold room recovering the gold.

Black Oak Minerals, was previously known as Southern Cross Goldfields Limited, which in 2013 merged with Polymetals Mining. Polymetals Mining introduced the Mt Boppy Project into the new company organisation, whereas Southern Cross brought with it the Marda Gold Project. The main source of interest in the development of the Marda Project is its low cost of production in comparison to other similar gold mining projects.