Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) has commenced mining of the South Junction Lode within the Bluebird-South Junction mining complex at Meekatharra in WA.
Mining of the South Junction Lode has commenced - ramp up targets a 100,000 tonnes per month run rate for the Bluebird-South Junction mine by Q3 FY25.
“Drilling continues to unlock value and point to the potential scale of the Bluebird-South Junction mining complex at Meekatharra," Managing Director and CEO, Wayne Bramwell, said.
"The commencement of mining on the South Junction Lode is a company milestone, achieved in short order by a focussed team. This lode is one of many mineralised lodes being tested across the Bluebird-South Junction mining complex, with the Polar Star Lode the next target to being evaluated.
"Westgold can now contemplate a significantly larger, multi-decline mining complex emerging on the doorstep of our 1.6 to 1.8 million tonnes per annum processing plant.
"Each new mining front we define can increase mine output, with the continued expansion of Bluebird-South Junction providing new opportunities to reduce haulage and optimise processing infrastructure across our Murchison business."
Sub-level open stoping commenced in August 2024 on the South Junction Lode at the Bluebird-South Junction mining complex which sits on the southern end of a circa 6.5km long line of lodes that has seen extensive open pit mining.
Capital mine development to exploit the South Junction Lode is now being established and once complete will see the Bluebird-South Junction mining complex become the primary ore source for the nearby Bluebird processing plant. Multiple underground diamond drill rigs are completing grade control drilling on the South Junction Lode ahead of the planned ramp up in production.
Infrastructure upgrades are underway to support the increase in production from Bluebird-South Junction with recent drill intercepts continuing to extend the strike length and down dip depth of the South Junction Lode, providing significant potential upside to the current plan.
Drilling has intersected other mineralised lodes within the South Junction system, including the Polar Star Lode which is located directly east of the South Junction Lode. Polar Star is presently defined by multiple high grade drill intercepts and has been defined over 600m in strike whilst remaining open to the south and down dip.
The xompany is targeting the release of an updated Polar Star Mineral Resource Estimate in Q3 FY25 in parallel with mining studies.
Westgold has continued with the extensional exploration / resource definition drilling program under the historic South Junction and Bluebird open pits at Meekatharra. The aim of this program, which commenced in mid- January 2024 and to date has totalled 29, 455m of drilling from surface, is to test and define the down-plunge extents of the multiple orebodies which historically produced +1Moz from open pits and is currently being mined from underground by Westgold.
South Junction hosts numerous mineralised zones broadly located on sub-parallel north- northeast-trending shears within a mafic-ultramafic rock package intruded by the Polar Star Porphyry. These zones from west to east are, Edin Hope Lode, South Junction Lode, Polar Star Lode and Archenar Lode.
