Media coverage of some up and coming aussie gold plays this morning on *****head
Including for the one which I think is the standout --
"Vertex owns the high-grade Reward gold mine at Hill End, New South Wales, just 40km from Australia’s largest gold mine, Newmont’s Cadia.
Vertex’s ground has historically produced more than 1.8Moz of gold. Reward has a resource of 419,000t at an eye-watering 16.7g/t gold for 225,000oz of gold.
Last year, Vertex acquired a 110,000tpa Gekko gravity gold plant and kicked off commissioning in recent weeks with an ore sorter to be installed this month.
In the company’s most recent update, it reported first gold was on track before the end of January Vertex will initially process 50,000t of stockpiles while it develops the Reward underground mine.
Excluding the processing of stockpiles, a February 2024 pre-feasibility study forecast gold production of 49,890oz over two years at an AISC of $1833/oz. At a gold price of $3000/oz, the project would generate gross revenue of $150 million and pre-tax free cashflow of $41 million.
On Christmas Eve, Vertex secured $5.1 million via convertible loan financing to fund work at Reward."
Looking at those numbers, we know the PFS was on indicated ore only, and the full resource of ~400,000 tonnes is a better indication of initial production. As production from the mine gets underway diamond drilling from UG locations using the Company's own drill will be searching for more and very likely with success. So the resource will hopefully keep pace with production.
Using rosy glasses if the mine can produce and the ore sorter can handle 200 ktpa and reduce bulk to half that (ie 100 ktpa) which is the gravity plant's nameplate then the magic 100 kozpa is in sight.
The mine might actually be the constraint - but we have an expert mine manager on staff so that eventuality is recognised.
IMO, please DYOR
(20min delay)