Tomingley Gold Operations (Tomingley)
- Gold production of 10,861oz was below forecast for the quarter due to lower recoveries from Caloma Two ore, with site operating cash costs at A$1,953/oz and AISC of A$2,454/oz. Site operating cash flow was A$5.9m for the quarter.
- Gold sales for the quarter of 10,385oz for revenue of A$30.5m at an average price of A$2,933/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, with production expected to be at the lower end of guidance and costs at the upper end of guidance.
Tomingley Gold Extension Project (TGEP)
- The updated Mineral Resource and Reserve for the Roswell Deposit was estimated at:
| Resource Open Cut – 3,900kt at 1.7g/t Au for 213koz Au Underground – 5,550kt at 2.7g/t Au for 489koz Au |
| Reserve Open Cut – 3,900kt at 1.7g/t Au for 213koz Au Underground – 3,209kt at 2.3g/t Au for 237koz A |
- Concrete works for the paste plant have been completed with the belt filter lifted into place.
- Stope mining of ore at Roswell has commenced post quarter end.
- Concrete works at the process plant flotation and fine grinding circuit are nearing completion.
Exploration
- Assay results were received from diamond core and RC drilling at Kaiser during the quarter as part of the ongoing infill drilling to allow the updated mineral resource. Significant intercepts included:
| KAI124 | 1m grading 37.8g/t AuEq* (37.7g/t Au, 0.24% Cu) from 129m |
| and | 120.5m grading 1.00g/t AuEq (0.44g/t Au, 0.40% Cu) from 351m |
| incl | 12m grading 2.84g/t AuEq (1.05g/t Au, 1.30% Cu) from 351m |
| also | 6m grading 3.46g/t AuEq (1.32g/t Au, 1.56% Cu) from 412m |
| KAI147 | 10m grading 1.95g/t AuEq (1.89g/t Au, 0.05% Cu) from 273m |
| incl | 2m grading 7.11g/t AuEq (7.04g/t Au, 0.06% Cu) from 276m |
| and | 66m grading 1.51g/t AuEq (0.52g/t Au, 0.72% Cu) from 305m |
| incl | 24m grading 2.47g/t AuEq (1.03g/t Au, 1.05% Cu) from 321m |
| KAI158 | 163m grading 1.27g/t AuEq (0.49g/t Au, 0.54% Cu) from 390m |
| incl | 45m grading 2.60g/t AuEq (0.86g/t Au, 1.26% Cu) from 424m |
| also | 15m grading 2.52g/t AuEq (0.95g/t Au, 1.14% Cu) from 495m |
| KAI159 | 8.6m grading 14.8g/t AuEq* (14.5g/t Au, 0.24% Cu) from 316.4m |
| incl | 3.5m grading 31.3g/t AuEq (30.6g/t Au, 0.51% Cu) from 318m |
| incl | 1m grading 62.2g/t AuEq (60.4g/t Au, 1.33% Cu) from 320m |
| and | 17m grading 0.90g/t AuEq (0.85g/t Au, 0.04% Cu) from 344m |
| incl | 1m grading 11.1g/t AuEq (11.1g/t Au, 0.02% Cu) from 360m |
| and | 30m grading 0.75g/t AuEq (0.42g/t Au, 0.25% Cu) from 673m |
| KAI161 | 14m grading 1.03g/t AuEq (0.81g/t Au, 0.16% Cu) from 158m |
| and | 162m grading 2.13g/t AuEq (1.09g/t Au, 0.76% Cu) from 246m |
| incl | 49m grading 3.06g/t AuEq (1.68g/t Au, 1.01% Cu) from 286m |
| also | 22m grading 3.40g/t AuEq (2.03g/t Au, 1.00% Cu) from 357m |
| KAI198 | 41m grading 3.05g/t AuEq* (1.39g/t Au, 1.21% Cu) from 1m |
| incl | 14m grading 8.05g/t AuEq (3.80g/t Au, 3.09% Cu) from 18m |
| KAI206 | 62m grading 1.31g/t AuEq (0.47g/t Au, 0.61% Cu) from surface |
| incl | 16m grading 2.94g/t AuEq (1.11g/t Au, 1.33% Cu) from 42m |
- Kaiser’s updated mineral resource estimation will be completed by the end of April 2024. 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$41.1m. Including the undrawn project finance facility of $50m, total liquidity was $91.1m at the end of the March quarter.
- Significant investments of $31 million were made during the quarter in the Tomingley expansion – details further discussed in the Corporate section of the report.
- Shareholding in ASX-listed gold producer Calidus Resources Ltd (ASX:CAI) represents ~7.0% ownership of issued capital in Calidus at the end of the March quarter.
Alkane Managing Director, Nic Earner said: “We’ve had a difficult quarter at Tomingley, mining through a low recovery area at Caloma Two. Happily, that is now behind us as we ramp up mining at Roswell, both higher grade and higher recovery. The quarter saw the release of our updated Roswell Resource, with a large increase in Reserve.
“Our expansion capital work continues with both the Paste Plant and Processing upgrades on track for commissioning later in the year. We’re currently reviewing the budget for Tomingley and expect to have that completed in June.
“The updated resource for Kaiser will be completed and announced by the end of April. The scoping study for Boda and Kaiser will be completed in the current quarter. A lot is happening within both projects, and we look forward to communicating progress in the coming months.”
*The equivalent calculation formula is AuEq(g/t) = Au(g/t) + Cu%/100*31.1035*copper price($/t)/gold price($/oz). The prices used were 12-month averages of US$1,950/oz gold and US$8,600/t copper, and A$:US$0.67. Recoveries are estimated at 81% Cu and 71% gold from metallurgical studies at Kaiser. Alkane considers the elements included in the metal equivalents calculation to have a reasonable potential to be recovered and sold.