Lease for the Woodlark mine in Milne Bay was granted in 2013 at a time when commodity prices conspired against such medium-sized mine developments, Mining Minister Johnson Tuke says.
During his address at a three-day conference in Sydney yesterday, Tuke said: “No finance was available for several years to Kula Gold but now that Geopacific Resources had taken control with overall economic interest in the project 93 per cent, there has been good progress with this development.
“An aggressive exploration programme is envisaged to see over K430 million spent to achieve production (on top of the K359 million spent by Kula).
“Geopacific has completed a review of the project and is taking a new approach with a definitive feasibility study imminent.
“The pre-feasibility study indicated a low-cost, low-stripping ratio open-pit, 10-year operation, with production at about 100,000 ounces per annum.
“The combined resource is estimated at 1.6 million ounces of gold and 1.1 million ounces of reserves.
“Debt advisers have been appointed and once the study is completed, discussions with financiers will proceed. The population of Woodlark Island is approximately 6000 and the mine hopes to employ about 420 people, with the majority from the island. With regard to mine royalties, these have increased proportionately with revenue and K182.49 million was paid out during 2017 to all recipients agreed in memoranda of agreements for each relevent mine.”
During his address at a three-day conference in Sydney yesterday, Tuke said: “No finance was available for several years to Kula Gold but now that Geopacific Resources had taken control with overall economic interest in the project 93 per cent, there has been good progress with this development.
“An aggressive exploration programme is envisaged to see over K430 million spent to achieve production (on top of the K359 million spent by Kula).
“Geopacific has completed a review of the project and is taking a new approach with a definitive feasibility study imminent.
“The pre-feasibility study indicated a low-cost, low-stripping ratio open-pit, 10-year operation, with production at about 100,000 ounces per annum.
“The combined resource is estimated at 1.6 million ounces of gold and 1.1 million ounces of reserves.
“Debt advisers have been appointed and once the study is completed, discussions with financiers will proceed. The population of Woodlark Island is approximately 6000 and the mine hopes to employ about 420 people, with the majority from the island. With regard to mine royalties, these have increased proportionately with revenue and K182.49 million was paid out during 2017 to all recipients agreed in memoranda of agreements for each relevent mine.”
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