Tomingley Gold Operations (Tomingley)
- Gold production of 13,182oz met forecast for the quarter, with site operating cash costs at A$1,464/oz and AISC of A$2,200/oz. Site operating cash flow was A$16.2m for the quarter.
- Gold sales for the quarter of 14,507oz for revenue of A$42.4m at an average price of A$2,926/oz.
- FY2024 guidance for Tomingley remains unchanged at 60,000oz to 65,000oz production at an AISC of $A1,750/oz to $2,100/oz.
Tomingley Gold Extension Project (TGEP)
- Extensive infill drilling of the Roswell orebody from underground continues, with ~17,000m drilled during the quarter. This drilling will be incorporated into an updated mineral resource in the coming quarter.
- Surface pad works for the paste plant have been completed with concreting to commence early in the current quarter.
- Work continues on establishing infrastructure (crib room, service and fuelling bay) at Roswell with commissioning expected in the March 2024 quarter.
- The first cell of Residue Storage Facility 2 has been commissioned and is now in operation.
- Mobilisation activities associated with the process plant flotation and fine grinding circuit have commenced with surface works to commence early in the March 2024 quarter.
- Commitment made to upgrade the underground loader fleet to the latest CAT 2900XE diesel-electric loaders. This fleet will be replaced through 2024, purchased using equipment finance, and is expected to deliver cost and productivity benefits.
Exploration
- The updated Mineral Resource for the Boda Deposit (see ASX Announcement 14 December 2023) was estimated at:
- 583Mt at 0.58g/t AuEq* for 10.9Moz AuEq (6.38Moz Au, 1.03Mt Cu)
- The estimate was based on approximately 145,000 metres of drilling using both 0.3g/t and 0.4g/t gold equivalent (AuEq*) cutoff deemed appropriate for potential open cut mining or underground mining, respectively.
- A substantial metallurgical testwork program was completed on the Boda and Kaiser gold-copper prospects (see ASX Announcement 14 November 2023), with resultant overall recovery estimates for:
- Boda: 87.4% of copper and 80.9% of gold in the plant feed to saleable products
- Kaiser: 79.6% of copper and 70.7% of gold in the plant feed to saleable products
- The program also established a viable flowsheet for processing Boda and Kaiser ore, comprising conventional crushing, grinding and flotation circuits to produce a saleable concentrate and leaching of the cleaner tail to produce gold dore.
- Assay results were received during the quarter from the diamond core and RC drilling at Boda as the infill drilling was completed to allow the updated mineral resource. Significant intercepts included:
| BOD058W1 | 179m grading 0.63g/t AuEq (0.37g/t Au, 0.19% Cu) from 447m |
| incl | 50m grading 1.45g/t AuEq (0.85g/t Au, 0.43% Cu) from 575m |
| and | 475m grading 1.08g/t AuEq (0.65g/t Au, 0.31% Cu) from 762m |
| incl | 54m grading 5.24g/t AuEq (2.97g/t Au, 1.66% Cu) from 822m |
| incl | 17m grading 10.8g/t AuEq (6.10g/t Au, 3.43% Cu) from 823m |
| BOD142 | 241.2m grading 0.44g/t AuEq (0.27g/t Au, 0.12% Cu) from 226m |
| and | 29m grading 1.08g/t AuEq (0.52g/t Au, 0.40% Cu) from 539m |
| and | 134.4m grading 1.05g/t AuEq (0.67g/t Au, 0.28% Cu) from 601.1m to EOH |
| incl | 41.9m grading 2.73g/t AuEq (1.80g/t Au, 0.67% Cu) from 601.1m |
| incl | 9.9m grading 6.51g/t AuEq (4.43g/t Au, 1.52% Cu) from 619m |
| BOD147 | 147m grading 1.21g/t AuEq (0.90g/t Au, 0.23% Cu) from 160m |
| incl | 34m grading 3.20g/t AuEq (2.97g/t Au, 0.17% Cu) from 216m |
| incl | 2m grading 32.4g/t AuEq (32.1g/t Au, 0.21% Cu) from 216m |
| BOD156 | 70m grading 1.03g/t AuEq (0.57g/t Au, 0.34% Cu) from 5m |
| incl | 13m grading 2.79g/t AuEq (1.40g/t Au, 1.01% Cu) from 29m |
| incl | 3m grading 5.68g/t AuEq (2.13g/t Au, 2.60% Cu) from 29m |
| and | 37m grading 0.47g/t AuEq (0.38g/t Au, 0.06% Cu) from 136m |
- Assay results were received during the quarter from diamond core and RC drilling at Kaiser as part of the ongoing infill drilling to allow the updated mineral resource. Significant intercepts included:
| KAI103 | 16m grading 0.91g/t AuEq (0.91g/t Au, 0.04% Cu) from 97m |
| and | 161m grading 1.02g/t AuEq (0.38g/t Au, 0.47% Cu) from 135m |
| incl | 27m grading 2.92g/t AuEq (1.29g/t Au, 1.20% Cu) from 151m |
| and | 7m grading 1.50g/t AuEq (0.49g/t Au, 0.74% Cu) from 235m |
| and | 141m grading 0.65g/t AuEq (0.32g/t Au, 0.24% Cu) from 334m |
| KAI106 | 501m grading 0.45g/t AuEq (0.19g/t Au, 0.19% Cu) from 228m |
| incl | 104m grading 0.89g/t AuEq (0.27g/t Au, 0.45% Cu) from 237m |
| KAI126 | 66m grading 1.34g/t AuEq (0.57g/t Au, 0.55% Cu) from 247m |
| incl | 22m grading 2.99g/t AuEq (1.22g/t Au, 1.29% Cu) from 289m |
| KAI143 | 192.2m grading 0.72g/t AuEq (0.34g/t Au, 0.28% Cu) from 396m |
| incl | 21.9m grading 2.02g/t AuEq (0.93g/t Au, 0.79% Cu) from 552.1m |
| KAI149 | 165m grading 0.86g/t AuEq (0.36g/t Au, 0.36% Cu) from 327m |
| incl | 6.4m grading 3.02g/t AuEq (1.49g/t Au, 1.11% Cu) from 399.6m |
| also | 1m grading 13.5g/t AuEq (13.2g/t Au, 0.24% Cu) from 455m |
| and | 15m grading 0.76g/t AuEq (0.40g/t Au, 0.26% Cu) from 555m |
- The updated mineral resource estimation for Kaiser will be completed in the current quarter, Q1 CY2024. A scoping level assessment of potential project economics is expected to be completed in Q2 CY2024.
Corporate
- Cash, bullion, and listed investments position totalled A$73.4m.
- Significant investments made during the quarter in the Tomingley expansion (A$15.7m) and exploration (A$4.8m).
- Corporate income tax of $6.0m related to the 2023 financial year was paid during the quarter.
- Shareholding in ASX-listed gold producer Calidus Resources Ltd (ASX:CAI) represents ~9.0% ownership of issued capital in Calidus at the end of the December quarter.
Alkane Managing Director, Nic Earner, said: “We’ve had another good quarter at Tomingley, again meeting our production guidance. The Tomingley Extension Project is continuing with a high level of activity with the Paste Plant pad completed and over 17,000m of infill drilling occurring at Roswell during the quarter. The Roswell Resource Model will also be updated this quarter as we further development in the mining areas.
“The quarter also saw the release of the updated Boda Resource Model, which increased grade and metal endowment. Drilling at Kaiser remains on schedule for the release of an updated resource during the current quarter and this will contribute to the scoping study in the month or two after.”
*The equivalent calculation formula used in ASX Announcement 14 December 2023 is AuEq(g/t) = Au(g/t) + Cu%/100*31.1035*copper price($/t)/gold price($/oz). 12-month average metal prices were used of US$1,950/oz gold and US$8,600/t copper, and A$:US$0.67. Recoveries are estimated at 87% for Cu and 81% for Au from metallurgical studies. Alkane believes all the elements included in the metal equivalents calculation have a reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.