With a recent mining lease granted at Mt Freda near Cloncurry, owners Tombola say they are fast forwarding in readiness to begin mining and gold production.
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In 2019 Tombola (then known as Ausmex) submitted a lease application for the the Golden Mile high-grade gold projects in the Mt Freda Complex, around 40km south-east of Cloncurry.
On July 28 Tombola said the Queensland government had granted a 10-year lease and this week the company told the ASX its mine managers Minecraft were negotiating with operational and plant contractors after CSA Global had released a positive scoping study which led to the immediate construction of two 40,000 tonne reuseable cyanide leach vats.
"The gold recovery process plant is also currently being manufactured at the Tombola engineering workshops in Cloncurry," Tombola said.
"On site at Mt Freda the concrete pads for the full process plant are already in place utilising the multiple historical Mt Freda CIP (Carbon in Pulp) processing plant slabs and foundation."
Tombola said Mt Freda was designed for a throughput of 300,000 tonnes a year which amounts to 64,000 ounces of gold in 30 months with Golden Mine being processed at the Round Oak CIP plant in Cloncurry for a further 15,000 ounces.
Tombola will now drill under the JORC-compliant mineral resources below a depth of 200m to extend the life of the Mt Freda operation.
Tombola is developing Golden Mile in a joint venture project with Round Oak Minerals (a subsidiary of Washington H Soul Pattinson) which has 20% and Tombola the remainder.
Under the JV agreement, Tombola has the option to process gold ore at Great Australia, owned by Round Oak.
The two six sq km sub blocks contain up to eight historical high grade gold mines.
Mt Freda open cut was previously operated by Diversified Mineral Resources from 1987 to 1991, producing 30,000 ounces year at an average grade of 4 g/t.
Mining ceased in 1991 following the fall in gold price to historical lows.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
