The Tumblegum South Project is progressing through its final stages of evaluation in readiness for mining, targeting first production as soon as 2021.
Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has welcomed the grant of the Tumblegum South Mining Lease to Bryah Resources Limited (ASX:BYH) – a key milestone to advance towards production at the Gabanintha Project.
AVL retains 100% rights in the excluded minerals of vanadium, uranium, cobalt, chromium, titanium, lithium, tantalum, manganese and iron ore on the Gabanintha Project, with Bryah holding rights to all remaining minerals.
The mining lease is held in the name of Australian Vanadium and covers an area of 70.9 hectares immediately along strike of the open pits of the historical Gabanintha Gold Mine.
“Targeting first production in 2021”
The lease was granted in under eight months since pegging and by pursuing gold production, the companies intend to capitalise on the robust gold price.
Bryah Resources managing director Neil Marston said: “We are well advanced in negotiations with a gold processing plant owner about collaborating on the development of the resource with our joint goal being to be fully permitted to start mining and processing gold sometime in 2021.
“The resource needs additional infill drilling to bring it up to a measured category, which we intend commencing later this month, ahead of a program of metallurgical test-work and pit design studies early next year.
“We have also appointed Greg Almond, a very experienced mining professional to our team, to manage the project through the various studies and approvals needed to commence production.”
Project commercialisation
The maiden inferred mineral resource at the Tumblegum South Prospect is 600,000 tonnes at 2.2 g/t gold for 42,500 ounces using a cut-off grade of 0.3 g/t.
Since the reporting of the mineral resource estimate, Bryah has engaged with various parties in respect to realising the value in the Tumblegum South Prospect, either through an outright sale or some other form of commercial development arrangement that would lead to mining, given its near-term development potential.
Granting of the mining lease is an important milestone towards advancing discussions/executing an agreement with a party which has an existing gold processing facility with the capacity to process ore derived from potential mining operations at Tumblegum South.
Drilling programs
Bryah has engaged a diamond drilling contractor to undertake around 200 metres of drilling later in November to obtain core samples which will be used to:
Verify the resource modelling and interpretation of mineralisation zones;
Provide samples for metallurgical test-work; and
Provide comparative gold grades to nearby existing reverse circulation (RC) drill holes.
Planning for a follow-up RC drilling program in 2021 is also underway to further investigate potential to grow the resource which remains open down dip and along strike.
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