Pantoro has made substantial progress in rehabilitating the Bullen decline at its Norseman gold project in the eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.
Rehabilitation efforts commenced in mid-December 2024, with roughly 250m completed to date. The project has seen excellent ground conditions that require minimal additional work beyond installing new mesh, rockbolts, and upgrading services to align with modern industry standards.
RedPath Australia, who also manages Pantoro’s Scotia underground operations near Norseman, has been contracted for the works, reinforcing strong synergies between the two sites.
Pantoro managing director Paul Cmrlec highlighted the historical significance of the Mainfield, where underground drilling is expected to commence by March 2025.
“The Mainfield at Norseman has historically accounted for over half of the six million ounces produced from the Norseman gold project,” Cmrlec said.
“These mines are shallow by today’s standards and host high-grade zones of mineralisation confirmed by historical small-scale development in largely un-mined zones of the orebody.
“Pantoro sees exceptional exploration potential in the under-explored system and we look forward to realising the opportunities over the coming year.”
Pantoro acquired Norseman in 2019 and has since completed over 300,000m of drilling, defined ore reserves of 958,000 ounces (oz), and constructed a 1.2-million-tonne-per-annum processing plant.
The project currently holds a total mineral resource of 4.8 million ounces (Moz) of gold and remains one of the highest-grade goldfields in WA’s Yilgarn Craton. It spans 70km of the Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt, covering approximately 800km2.
Pantoro’s growth strategy, announced in June 2024, aims to double production to over 200,000oz annually through expansion of underground mining operations and ongoing exploration.
The rehabilitation of the Bullen decline is set to play a key role in unlocking this growth potential.
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