Exploration growth at Regis Resources’ Duketon and Tropicana gold projects in Western Australia has outstripped mining depletion for the third year running.
Regis managing director and chief executive officer Jim Beyer said the company’s latest mineral resource and ore reserve report confirms its ability to systematically identify underground opportunities.
He also said Regis’ exploration activities reinforce confidence it will increase the number of underground mines it operates and continue to outpace depletion with growth.
“We have long believed that our suite of assets hold the potential to host long-life and expandable underground mines,” Beyer said.
“Over the last three years, our exploration activities across Duketon and Tropicana have successfully expanded our underground ore reserves from 360,000 ounces (koz) to 535koz while over the same period producing 365koz of gold.
“These results, as illustrated in this report, gives us confidence that we can continue delivering in-line with this trend.”
At Duketon, with current exploration results and significant local geological knowledge, Regis is confident it will continue to identify expansions of its underground mining inventory.
Regis aims to operate four to five underground mining areas within Duketon to deliver on its previously stated annual targeted production of 200–250koz in the future.
At the same time, Regis is continuing to explore surface targets, seeking additional large open pit growth.
Similarly to Duketon, Regis is confident that Tropicana will continue to deliver underground growth with significant potential for further large-scale open pit discovery.
Regis announced there was no change in resource estimates for its McPhillamy’s project in New South Wales from its update released in April.
McPhillamys is one of Australia’s largest undeveloped open-pit gold projects capable of producing up to 200,000 ounces per annum.
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