Auric lights fuse on first blast at WA Munda gold mine
The first blast was fired earlier this week at Auric's starter pit, just weeks after excavation began, clearing the way for full-scale mining. The company says it has already managed to shift 70,000 bank cubic metres (BCM) of material in the past month from a pit design encompassing 380,000BCM.
Since much of the initial material has been free-digging, with no need for blasting, Auric would likely have scored an early cost-saving bonus before work on harder rock got underway.
Auric is using a dry-hire fleet on site that includes a 125-tonne excavator and four 40t 'Moxi' dump trucks, along with ancillary gear. Kalgoorlie-based Total Drilling Services is handling the grade control, blast-hole drilling and blast supervision to ensure operations are managed with experienced local crews.
'Mining is in full swing and all activities are progressing as we expected.'
Auric Mining managing director Mark English
Auric expects to extract 125,000t of ore grading 1.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from the starter pit, most of which will come towards the end of the initial mining at the base of the pit.
The company is eyeing a maiden 6100-ounce gold haul from early mining at an all-in sustaining cost of just $2635 per ounce. When it first crunched the numbers, Auric based its projections on a conservative $3500 gold price - enough to deliver a tidy $5.3 million in free cash.
Auric Mining managing director Mark English said: 'Mining is in full swing and all activities are progressing as we expected. We are achieving our targets and are exactly where we expected to be in the mine development. We are pleased to be monetising our major asset in such a bullish gold market, the timing is excellent. It is a great place to be as an unhedged gold producer.'
With gold now trading at a blistering $5100 an ounce, the upside is looking far juicier, setting the stage for a much bigger payday from Munda's opening act.
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