Highlights
- Favourable gold price substantially rerates pit optimisation outcomes
- EMC’s Mt Dimer Taipan project currently contains a JORC 2012 compliant resource of 722kt @:
- 2.10 g/t Au for 48,545 ounces, and
- 3.84 g/t Ag for 89,011 ounces[1]
- Previously drilled high grade gold/silver systems include intersections[2] of:
- 21MDRC017 – 8m @ 13.55 g/t Au from 80m incl. 4m @ 23 g/t Au from 80m
- 21MDRC025 – 6m @ 7.07 g/t Au & 6.93 g/t Ag from 45m
- 21MDRC008 – 7m @ 3.19 g/t Au & 14 g/t Ag from 106m incl. 3m @ 6.5 g/t Au & 25.4 g/t Ag from 106m
- 21MDRC010 – 4m @ 2.22 g/t Au from 160m
- Resource is open to the south along strike and down dip
- Mining Proposal preparation underway on granted Mining Lease
“A current AUD gold price over $3,000 per ounce with a favourable outlook materially changes the economic outcomes for developing the Mt Dimer Taipan project. The Company is pleased to announce its commitment to the development of its 100% owned project with a view to commencing a profitable mining operation in the medium term”.
Executive Chairman and CEO, Mark Caruso commented:
Everest Metals Corporation Limited (ASX: EMC) (“EMC” or “the Company”)is pleased to announce that the Company has undertaken a strategic review to develop the Mt Dimer Taipan Gold & Silver Project (M77/515 and E77/2383) (“Mt Dimer”) located circa 150km west of Kalgoorlie and 120km northeast of the famous gold mining town Southern Cross (Figure 1).
The Company completed an initial open pit optimisation assessment on Mt Dimer using the existing mineral resource estimate model. The current AUD gold price provides a favourable pricing environment to potentially deliver robust returns. These results indicate that Mt Dimer has the potential to host a profitable, small scale open pit mining operation on a toll-treatment basis.
EMC has commenced the preparation of a Mining Proposal and Mine Closure Plan for open pit mining under the 2023 Statutory Guidelines at Mt Dimer to submit to the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (“DMIRS”). A Mining Proposal Scoping Document (“MPSD”) is also being prepared for DMIRS who will then confirm the required environmental approvals pathway for Mt Dimer. Additionally, Flora and Fauna reconnaissance, waste rock and soil characterisation work will also be conducted in preparation for developing the Mining Proposal, which will be submitted to DMIRS in the March 2024 quarter. The Company anticipates receiving approvals in the second half of 2024.
Figure 1: Mt Dimer Gold project location map
Furthermore, EMC remains confident that the resource remains open to the south and down dip, and that mineralisation may occur outside of the drilling area completed to date, with strong potential to extend the mineralisation along strike to the south. While a valid Program of Work (POW 91793) is in place for drilling, the Company has submitted a new POW to DMIRS to conduct further RC drilling.
Background
The Mt Dimer Mining Lease (M77/515) was granted on the 28 May 1992 and has been explored by numerous parties up to when EMC acquired the project in 2020 including an exploration tenement (E77/2383) which adjoins to the west of M77/515 (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Mt Dimer Gold project location map
Initially, and most significantly, exploration over the project area was undertaken in 1988-90 by Placer Exploration who identified several geochemical anomalies, defined project geology, and subsequently drilled these with RC, DD, and RAB to define a Resource. Work undertaken by Placer Exploration included but was not limited to significant geochemical sampling in the form of RAB holes, surface geochemical sampling and ground geophysics in response to limited outcropping at the project, especially towards the southern portion of the tenement. Geochemical targets were generated from the surface geochemical sampling and were subsequently drilled using RAB, RC and diamond which resulted in the identification of the mineralisation that we now know as Mt Dimer. A gold resource was developed before the project was vended to Taipan Resources NL (Taipan).
Figure 3: Mt Dimer pit, view to northwest
The Mt Dimer deposit was partially mined by Taipan between 1995 and 1996. The open pit was excavated to approximately the base of weathering with the initial model extending at depth and to the north of the current pit (Figure 3). Mining ceased due to a number of factors including a significant wall failure on the northeastern side of the open pit coupled with a subdued gold price at AUD450. In total, over 84kt were mined at approximately 4.61g/t Au (no silver reported) for 5,933 Oz Au[3].
Figure 4: Mt Dimer pit over satellite imagery
After the pit closure, various small listed and private entities have attempted leaching the stockpiles for gold and silver with varying degrees of success. Historically reported numbers by Yilgarn Independent Prospectors indicate that 8,000t was leached, at 3.11g/t Au for 800 Oz Au[4]. The project was purchased by Cadre Resources Pty Ltd, and in 2017, four exploratory RC holes were drilled at nominal 100m spacings along strike of the deposit and were designed to validate the existing dataset. Results were promising, with all holes intercepting mineralisation >1g/t Au and confirming the down dip extension of mineralisation.
Everest Metals Corporation Ltd (then named Twenty Seven Co. Ltd) acquired the project in 2020. An aerial drone survey was completed over the Mt Dimer Mining Lease area with the purpose of producing a high-resolution ortho-mosaic image and Digital Terrain Model (DTM). The key features of the Mining Lease, including the open cut pit, the TSF, the HLP and the waste dump. Then, a total of 26 x RC holes for a total of 3,367m was drilled with 12 x holes reporting >1g/t Au[5] and the results indicated gold-silver mineralisation was extended along strike and down dip.
A Maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (JORC Code 2012) for the Mt Dimer Gold and Silver Project – 722kt @ 2.10 g/t Au for 48,545 ounces of gold and 3.84 g/t Ag for 89,011 ounces of Silver – was reported in 2021[6] using a cut off 1.0g/t Au for resource sitting below the 380mRL (Table 1). The resource remains open to the south and down dip, with strong potential to extend the mineralisation along strike to the south and highlights the potential for further gold and silver resources to be identified along the mineralised corridor within Mt Dimer and the surrounding tenements.
Table 1: Mt Dimer Inferred Resource Classification using a 0.5g/t and 1.0g/t Au cut-off grades
| Deposit | Cut-off (g/t) Au | Tonnes kt | Grade (g/t) Au | Au Oz | Grade (g/t) Ag | Ag Oz |
| Laterite | 0.5g/t Au | 7.7 | 0.59 | 145 | 0.04 | 11.1 |
| Vein system above 380mRl | 0.5g/t Au | 665 | 2.0 | 42,700 | 3.64 | 77,800 |
| Vein system below 380mRL | 1.0g/t Au | 50 | 3.2 | 5,700 | 6.98 | 11,200 |
| Total | 722 | 48,545 | 89,011 |
Figure 5: Mt Dimer cross section with the block model coloured by Au (ppm)
Furthermore, in an initial sampling program, 12 x grab samples were taken across the TSF in 2020. The sample assay results were very encouraging, ranging from a maximum of 1.19g/t Au to 0.13g/t Au, with the 12 x samples averaging 0.41g/t Au[7]. The results to date warrant more detailed auger sampling to gain a better understanding of the depth of the tailings, their average gold grade, and to provide samples for metallurgical test work to assess gold recovery and assess possible short term income generation.
[1] ASX: TSC announcement; Maiden JORC Resource Defined at Mt Dimer Gold and Silver Project in WA, dated 31 May 2021
[2] ASX: TSC announcement; Exceptional assays deliver up to 23g/t gold & 33g/t silver at Mt Dimer, dated 8 April 2021
[3] WAMEX report A55950 – 1998 Annual report on Mt Dimer Mining Lease M77/515.
[4] WAMEX report A70827 – 2005 Annual report on Mt Dimer Mining Lease M77/515.
[5] ASX: TSC announcement; Exceptional assays deliver up to 23g/t gold & 33g/t silver at Mt Dimer, dated 8 April 2021.
[6] ASX: TSC announcement; Maiden JORC Resource Defined at Mt Dimer Gold and Silver Project in WA, dated 31 May 2021.
[7] ASX: TSC announcement; Accelerating Mt Dimer Mining Lease development post site visit, dated 23 November 2020.
