Emerging gold company Brightstar Resources has announced the results of a scoping study conducted at its Menzies and Laverton gold projects.
The Menzie gold project is located 130 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and is wholly owned by Brightstar Resources.
The scoping study focused on open pit operations at the Lady Shenton deposit at the Menzies project and the Cork Tree Well at the Laverton project, as well as underground mining at the Yunndaga deposit at the Menzies project.
Findings from the scoping study found that more than 320,000 ounces (oz) of gold could be produced across an eight-year mine through an initial mine production target of about 5.28 million tonnes at two grams per tonne for 322,617oz.
The scoping study also suggested total project pre-production capital of about $22 million, all-in-sustaining costs of about $2041/oz, and a payback period of 18 months.
The project’s net present equalled to around $103 million based on a gold price of $2900 per ounce and a pre-tax internal rate of return of about 79 per cent. The project’s revenue equalled to around $935 million and $153 million in operating cashflow.
“We have delineated four key deposits within our Menzies and Laverton gold projects which will deliver an executable eight plus year LOM (life of mine) plan which will result in Brightstar becoming a meaningful gold producer in the WA Goldfields,” Brightstar Resources managing director Alex Rovira said.
“The staged mined development has been optimised to minimise up-front capital costs, utilising operational cash flow to organically fund the refurbishment of the Laverton processing facility to minimise equity dilution and limit onerous debt and/or hedging exposure associated with large capex builds magnifying commissioning risks.
“Whilst we’re pleased to release the results of our scoping study and are progressing with a pre-feasibility study, we continue to advance exploration efforts across the portfolio with the intent of finding additional ounces to add to the mine plan.”
In January, Brightstar Resources acquired 100 per cent of Kingwest Resources shares through a binding scheme implementation deed.