Ausgold Limited’s Katanning gold project has reached a regulatory milestone after being selected for the Western Australia (WA) government’s new priority approvals program.
Led by the state’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), the program enables cross-sectoral management of approvals across WA’s government agencies by assisting companies through each stage of the approval assessment process. This is done via an appointed senior case manager, ensuring parallel processing and reduced delays.
Ausgold general manager of permitting and approvals Troy Collie said the company is “extremely pleased” to have been invited into the program.
“This is an important initiative, and we applaud the government of Western Australia for the introduction of cross-sectoral facilitation to expedite processing of applications,” he said.
“We certainly see Katanning as a high-profile project, and we welcome it being deemed a priority.”
This week, Ausgold also formally lodged its Section 38 Environmental Protection Act referral with the WA Environmental Protection Authority.
In late October, Ausgold also began a 44,000-metre drilling campaign at Katanning, a move to expand its 2.4 million-ounce gold resource.
The multi-rig program comprised 32,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling and 12,000 metres of regional drilling, supported by diamond drilling set for next year; all focusing on resource growth and regional discovery.
At the federal level, the project is being assessed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW).
“This new measure, together with significant progress achieved at the federal level in recent months, supports our goal of making a final investment decision (FID) in the June quarter of next year,” Collie said.
Ausgold highlighted that Katanning is located on predominantly cleared, freehold land in WA’s Great Southern region.
The company said it carries relatively low technical risk, and “has significant” potential to enhance and diversify the Great Southern economy.
At this stage, Ausgold aims to finalise key contracts and financing agreements by the second quarter (Q2) of the 2026 calendar year, aligning with its planned FID.
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