Study into increasing processing capacity at Catalyst Metal’s Plutonic gold mine in Mid West complete

The owner of a Mid West gold mine has reacted positively to a study that reviewed the option of increasing processing capacity at the site. The study explored options to expand the Plutonic mill, located about 195km north-east of Meekatharra, from its current two million tonnes per annum processing capacity up to 3Mtpa. “The costs to achieve these plant expansion options ranged between $50 million and $75m,” Plutonic’s owner Catalyst Metals told the ASX in an announcement on Tuesday. “The low capital cost of the throughput increase is a product of leveraging Plutonic’s existing infrastructure.” That infrastructure includes a 2Mtpa circuit in operation and an oxide circuit on care and maintenance. The mine site has long-remained under-explored and undermined since the 1990s. Catalyst’s 10-year production plan released last year includes doubling production at Plutonic from the current 100,000 ounces of gold a year to 200,000oz a year. “Existing infrastructure and sunk capital across the Plutonic gold belt has allowed Catalyst in the past 12 months to deliver three of the four new mines required to increase gold production from 100,000oz pa to 200,000oz pa,” the company told the ASX. A decision on whether to go ahead and expand Plutonic’s throughput has yet to be made. The final decision will depend on multiple factors, including the ongoing exploration success across the Plutonic belt. Catalyst managing director and CEO James Champion de Crespigny said the goal was to return Plutonic to a “long-life, self-sustaining gold production centre commensurate with the scale of the mineral endowment.” “We believe that to be 200,000oz per annum,” he said. “This optionality to expand Plutonic’s milling capacity, along with ongoing exploration success, will further de-risk Catalyst’s long-term 200,000oz per annum production plan. “It is an option that will allow additional ore sources, including lower grade, bulk, open-pit material to be included in the plan. “Between 1990 and 2008, Plutonic sustained average gold production rates much higher than today. This was a product of a 3Mtpa processing plant and large mineral endowment. Both attributes remain at Plutonic today, albeit they have suffered from underinvestment.” In November last year, Zuleika Gold pocketed $48m in the settlement of a long-running legal dispute with Catalyst over the Plutonic gold mine.