The gold prices have continued to climb and are up almost 50 per cent in the past 12 months at $4613 per ounce – only $80 shy of all-time highs. At that level, even relatively low-grade, short-lived projects such as at Jeffreys Find have proved a major boon for the junior miners.
Auric and BML have started moving their equipment up the road to the company’s flagship Munda gold project near Widgiemooltha.
The joint venture will mine a 125,000-tonne reserve starter pit grading 1.8 grams per tonne (g/t) for 6100 ounces of the yellow metal and $5.3m in quick cash.
By taking a strategic approach of a starter pit to unlock Munda’s full potential the company expects to gain a deeper understanding of the geology at site and pave the way for a more efficient mining strategy to develop a bigger 140,000-ounce orebody.
By removing the costly overburden material during a high gold price environment, Auric hopes to lower its overall future mining costs, thereby putting the full-scale operation – due to start in 2026 – on a firmer footing, even in a fluctuating market.
The company has taken a “make hay while the sun shines” attitude to its mining plans during these heady days of booming gold prices.
To that end, Auric has been busy spending the hard-earned loot from Jeffreys Find on three new areas of development.
A week before Christmas, the company made a conditional bid for the 180,000tpa Burbanks plant near Coolgardie for $4.4m. The plant, which has been on care and maintenance since 2019, comes complete with mining licences, power and tailings infrastructure.
With a bit of expenditure, the plant could be upgraded to 500,000tpa and provide Auric with its own processing facilities.
More recently, the company also made a strategic move to pick up two highly prospective leases close to Westgold Resources’ massive 2.8-million-ounce Higginsville operation.
One of the leases has an historic shallow open pit on it with only limited deeper drilling evident, suggesting more treasures may lie beneath, especially given the region’s prospectivity.
Auric has also made a bold move to grab the partially mined Lindsay’s gold project in WA’s eastern Goldfields for $4m.
The project, 50 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie, covers 33 square kilometres and has eight leases. The grounds also include the Parrot Feathers open pit, which was mined until 2013 by KalNorth Gold Mines for 6153 ounces of gold.
After a drop in the gold price, mining was abandoned, leaving a further 18,000 ounces in the ground, which are now ripe for the picking.
Auric is now closing its first chapter as a miner on a high note. Jeffreys Find has outperformed expectations, delivering exceptional profits and solidifying Auric’s reputation as a nimble and profitable force in the Australian gold sector.
This success appears to have set the stage for even greater opportunities ahead.
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