Australia’s Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) has received a new environmental permit that will allow the miner to expand an existing tailing storage facility at its Ravenswood gold operation in north Queensland state.
The license also lets the company proceed with in-pit tailings storage, part of a broader mine expansion project, which will provide Resolute with the ability to safely store waste for the operation’s entire 10-year life.
Resolute managing director and chief executive, John Welborn, said all major approvals for the plan to expand gold annual production to 200,000 ounces over the mine life are now in place.
Ultimate plan is to expand Ravenswood’ gold annual production to 200,000 ounces over the mine’s 10-year life
“With available gold resources of almost six-million ounces, decades of operational excellence in open pit mining, efficient processing infrastructure, low cost grid power, and a stable skilled local workforce, the Ravenswood Expansion Project (REP) has obvious potential to deliver considerable economic benefits to shareholders, the local community and the Queensland government,” Welborn said in the statement.
The Perth-based miner said in September that the first stage of the mine expansion had already started, with the recommissioning of the third grinding mill at Nolans processing plant underway.
Once complete, Resolute will be able to return to a processing rate of five million tonnes per year. Ravenswood is located about 95km southwest of Townsville.
The company expects the mill
recommissioning will be fully operational by the end of the current quarter.
