Gold Overview
Eastern Goldfields Refractory Gold Consolidation Strategy
Apex has identified numerous refractory gold deposits in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields region which have remained undeveloped because under their fragmented ownership they have each lacked the critical mass to justify a stand-alone operation.
Apex has successfully negotiated to acquire 100% ownership of a number of these projects, giving the Company total landholdings in the Eastern Goldfields of over 3,800 square kilometres and a gold resource inventory of approximately 2.5 million ounces. In addition, the Company has acquired processing plants (both conventional and bacterial oxidation), camp facilities and other valuable infrastructure.
The acquisitions include:
- The Wiluna Gold Project
- The Gidgee Gold Project
- The Youanmi Gold Project
- The Aphrodite Gold Deposit.
The Wiluna Project, which includes a 1 million tonne per annum processing plant and BIOX ® bacterial oxidation plant, will become Apex's first central gold processing facility with feed consisting of approximately 50% high grade underground ore from Wiluna, with the balance made up by additional high grade material trucked from the Wilsons Deposit at Gidgee and from Youanmi, approximately 120 kilometres and 320 kilometres away respectively.
The Wiluna operation has been on care and maintenance since the end of July 2007 in such a manner that it can be restarted rapidly and at minimal cost to Apex. Significant exploration work has been undertaken across the groups projects which has successfully defined enough ounces to begin production from the last quarter of this calendar year.
Apex is now set to begin mining at the Wilsons and Wiluna deposit in the quarter with production begin in the last quarter. A ramp up in production through the first quarter of next year is set to deliver an intial production rate of 150,000pa while only Wiluna and Wilsons ore is processed. Mining is set to commence at Youanmi in the following quarter ultimately lifting production from the Wiluna Mill to 200,000 ounces per year by the second half of next calendar year.
