Highlights
- Mining Proposal for Mt Dimer Taipan Gold & Silver Project (Mt Dimer) has been submitted to the Western Australian Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS)
- EMC conducted an initial open pit optimisation assessment revealing that the project supports a small-scale open pit mining operation on a toll-treatment basis
- Current JORC 2012 compliant inferred mineral resource estimate for Mt Dimer:
- 722kt at 2.10g/t Au for 48,545 oz of gold, and 3.84g/t Ag for 89,011 oz of silver[1]
- Infill drilling planned for Q3 CY2024 to follow up historical intercepts[2]:
- 19m @ 3.42g/t Au from 76m (DRC_031)
- 7m @ 3.19g/t Au & 14g/t Ag from 106m (21MDRC008)
- Negotiations for toll treatment options with neighbouring mills have advanced
- Mining activities expected to commence in Q2 CY 2025
Everest Metals Corporation Ltd (ASX: EMC) (“EMC” or “the Company”)is pleased to announce it has submitted a Mining Proposal to commence mining at the Mt Dimer Taipan Gold & Silver Project (“Mt Dimer”), located 150km west of Kalgoorlie and 120km northeast of Southern Cross (Figure 1).
Everest Metals Chief Operating Officer, Simon Phillips commented:
“With an AUD gold price now comfortably above $3,500 per ounce, EMC’s Mt Dimer Taipan Gold & Silver Project provides an attractive proposition to mine, particularly in light of nearby processing options which are ore hungry. We have now met a key project milestone in the fast tracking of the Mt Dimer Taipan project which has the potential to become a profitable mining operation in Q2 CY 2025.”
Mining Proposal
In early 2024, the Company completed an initial open pit optimisation assessment on Mt Dimer using the existing mineral resource estimate model. The results show that Mt Dimer has the potential to host a profitable, small-scale, open pit mining operation on a toll-treatment basis[3].
As part of the initial open pit optimisation assessment, EMC prepared a Mining Proposal for open pit mining under the 2023 Statutory Guidelines at Mt Dimer (M77/515) which was submitted to the WA Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (“DEMIRS”) on 13 February 2024. Subsequent to submission, EMC received the required environmental approvals which provided a clear pathway for the resumption of open pit mining at Mt Dimer.
Significant work has been completed in submitting the Mining Proposal including a geotechnical study, hydrogeological modelling, baseline environmental study, flora and fauna surveys, environmental risk management, waste rock and soil characterisation.
The Company is targeting commencement of mining in Q2 CY 2025.
The assessment process by DEMIRS is expected to take approximately three months to review and approve the application. The proposal will now be reviewed by the various authorities and the Company anticipates receiving approvals in late 2024. M77/515 is valid until 27 May 2034.
Figure 1: Mt Dimer Gold project location map
The Mt Dimer Taipan mining proposal consists of a cutback of the existing Mt Dimer Taipan Pit that enables the extraction of ore both laterally and from the base of the pit (Figure 2). The ore is planned to be processed at one of several nearby mills in Kalgoorlie. Approximately 125,000BCM of waste will be mined from a cutback along strike to the southeast and stored onsite at a waste dump. All mining and project activities occur within a granted mining licence primarily on land previously disturbed by mining activities including routes via existing roads and points from the Coolgardie Road.
Mining will be undertaken with a small mining fleet of 55 tonne articulated dump trucks and a 60-tonne excavator. Some initial pre-stripping of cover material may occur with 100 tonne trucks if available. Minimal pit stabilisation work is required due to the shallow weathering profile at the site resulting in the pit walls remaining in a very stable condition since the last mining campaign ceased in 1996. Mining operations are expected to take place on day shift only over a period of approximately eight months, with ore haulage and rehabilitation likely to continue for a further three months.
The Company has progressed negotiations for toll processing with nearby mills in the region. EMC remains confident that the resource remains open to the south and down dip, with the possibility of mineralisation extending beyond the current drilling area. There is strong potential to extend the mineralisation along the southern strike. The Company received a POW approval from DEMIRS to conduct further infill RC drilling, planned for the December 2024 quarter.
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 the Company acquired the project in 2020 including an exploration tenement (E77/2383) which adjoins to the west of M77/515 (Figure 1).
Figure 2: Mt Dimer pit, view to northwest
Initially, in 1988-90, Placer Exploration conducted exploration over the project area identifying several geochemical anomalies and defining the project’s geology. They drilled these anomalies using RC, DD, and RAB methods to define a Resource.
Their work included, but was not limited to, extensive geochemical sampling through RAB holes, surface geochemical sampling and ground geophysics particularly in response to limited outcropping in the southern part of the tenement. Geochemical targets were generated from the surface geochemical sampling and were subsequently drilled using RAB, RC and diamond methods 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). 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 2). Mining ceased due to 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[4].
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[5]. 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.
Figure 3: Mt Dimer pit over satellite imagery
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[6] and the results indicated gold-silver mineralisation extended along strike and down dip.
A Maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (JORC Code 2012) for the Mt Dimer-Taipan Gold and Silver Project – 722kt @ 2.10g/t Au for 48,545 ounces of gold and 3.84g/t Ag for 89,011 ounces of silver – was reported in 2021[7] 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 the southern strike 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- Taipan 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 |
In an initial sampling program, 12 grab samples were taken from and 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 samples averaging 0.41g/t Au[8]. The results 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.
Figure 4: Mt Dimer cross section with the block model coloured by Au (ppm)
NEXT STEPS
- Completion of complementary Environmental Studies in the December 2024 quarter
- Infill Resource Drilling in the December 2024 quarter
[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; Initial assays confirm shallow high-grade gold at Mt Dimer ML, dated 31 March 2021
[3] ASX: EMC announcement; EMC To Develop Mt Dimer Taipan Gold Project, dated 17 January 2024
[4] WAMEX report A55950 – 1998 Annual report on Mt Dimer Mining Lease M77/515.
[5] WAMEX report A70827 – 2005 Annual report on Mt Dimer Mining Lease M77/515.
[6] ASX: TSC announcement; Exceptional assays deliver up to 23g/t gold & 33g/t silver at Mt Dimer, dated 8 April 2021.
[7] ASX: TSC announcement; Maiden JORC Resource Defined at Mt Dimer Gold and Silver Project in WA, dated 31 May 2021.
[8] ASX: TSC announcement; Accelerating Mt Dimer Mining Lease development post site visit, dated 23 November 2020.
