Tomingley Gold Operations (Tomingley)
- Gold production of 16,641oz met forecast for the quarter, with site operating cash costs at A$990/oz and AISC of A$1,805/oz.
- FY2023 year-to-date production is 54,431oz at an AISC of A$1,446/oz.
- Gold sales for the quarter of 19,163oz for revenue of A$53.4m at an average price of A$2,787/oz.
- FY2023 guidance for Tomingley has increased to 65,000oz to 73,000oz production at an AISC of $A1,550/oz to $1,750/oz (previously 62,000oz to 70,000oz at AISC of $A1,550 to $1,800).
Tomingley Gold Extension Project (TGEP)
- The TGEP was approved by the NSW Minister for Planning in February.
- The approval allows for open cut and underground mining at the Roswell and San Antonio deposits, processing of ore at 1.75Mtpa, relocation of the Newell Highway and an extension of mine life to 2032.
- Development of the TGEP underpins the expected lift of gold production rates at Tomingley to ~100,000oz per annum rate during CY2025.
Exploration
- The initial Inferred Mineral Resource for the Kaiser Deposit (see ASX Announcement 27 February 2023) was estimated at:
- 270Mt grading at 0.54g/t AuEq* for 4.7Moz AuEq* (0.48Mt Cu, 2.05Moz Au)
- The estimate was based on approximately 49,400 metres of drilling using a 0.3g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) cutoff to the -140mRL deemed appropriate for potential open cut mining.
- The Kaiser Resource is located 500 metres northwest of the Boda deposit within the Northern Molong Porphyry Project (NMPP). The average grade for Kaiser is slightly higher than Boda largely due to the higher copper grade. As a result, the value of the contained copper now exceeds the value of gold for the Boda-Kaiser resources:
- Kaiser: 270Mt at 0.54g/t AuEq for 4.7Moz AuEq (2.05Moz Au, 0.48Mt Cu)
- Boda: 624Mt at 0.51g/t AuEq* for 10.1Moz AuEq (5.21Moz Au, 0.90Mt Cu)
- Total: 894Mt at 0.52g/t AuEq* for 14.8Moz AuEq (7.26Moz Au, 1.38Mt Cu)
- Alkane entered into an agreement to acquire two packages of exploration tenements (the Projects) in the Macquarie Arc, New South Wales from Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX:SFR) for 2,781,438 ALK shares (A$1.9m value at the time of transaction). The Projects acquired will be 100% Alkane owned with no underlying royalties or liabilities. Both Projects are considered highly prospective for world class Au-Cu porphyry deposits.
Assay results were received during the quarter from diamond core and RC drilling at Boda Two confirming zones of high grade gold pyrite cemented breccia mineralisation within extensive gold-copper porphyry mineralisation. Significant intercepts included:
| BOD093 | 438m grading 0.60g/t AuEq (0.38g/t Au, 0.15% Cu) from 842m |
| incl | 5m grading 2.22g/t AuEq (1.89g/t Au, 0.25% Cu) from 862m |
| also | 8.1m grading 2.38g/t AuEq (1.11g/t Au, 0.86% Cu) from 1,101.9m |
| also | 92m grading 0.72g/t AuEq (0.68g/t Au, 0.03% Cu) from 1,149m (gold-pyrite) |
| BOD098 | (PC) 34m grading 0.50g/t AuEq (0.17g/t Au, 0.22% Cu) from 113m |
| and | 111m grading 1.01g/t AuEq (0.69g/t Au, 0.21% Cu) from 241m |
| incl | 21m grading 3.01g/t AuEq (2.36g/t Au, 0.44% Cu) from 286m |
Corporate
- Cash, bullion and listed investments position totalled A$117.2M.
- Shareholding in ASX listed gold producer Calidus Resources Ltd (ASX:CAI) represents ~9.7% ownership of issued capital in Calidus at end of March quarter.
- Debt funding of $50m from Macquarie Bank was secured for the development of the TGEP during the quarter. 100,000oz of gold hedging with a weighted average price of A$2,825/oz was put in place for the period March 2024 to December 2026. First debt draw down is permitted on the approval of the Mining Lease, expected mid-2023.