Westgold Resources continues to set records at its Bluebird mine in Western Australia’s Mid West region, producing 49,000 tonnes at 4 grams per tonne gold for 6300 ounces in May – an 8 per cent increase compared to April’s figures at the site.
The April result had set a new record for the mine when it delivered 48,000 tonnes at 3.7g/t gold for a total of 5800 ounces during that month.
Management says it has doubled the output from Bluebird in the past year and pointed out that drilling was yet to define the vertical or lateral limits of the system that forms part of its Meekatharra operations.
Westgold now has three rigs operational across its sites, with a third hole now being drilled at its South Junction prospect. Recent drill results at Bluebird include a 9m hit at 13.6g/t gold from 638.4m that was drilled outside the current resource footprint.
Following a massive rain event late in April, the Bluebird team has smashed another production record in May with 49kt, delivering 6.3koz at above the scheduled mine grade. Improving month on month output reflects increasing understanding of the geological controls and improved operational execution. Westgold Resources managing director Wayne Bramwell
The producer’s holdings in the Murchison region include three underground mines and two processing plants that stretch from Cue in the south to Meekatharra in the north.
The Bluebird and Paddy’s Flat underground mines are the primary ore sources for the 1.4 to 1.8-million-tonne per annum Bluebird processing plant. Historically, the two mines produced more than 1 million gold ounces from shallow open pits and small-scale underground workings.
After a bumper 2022 financial year, when the company achieved its guidance of 270,088 gold ounces, the miner has implemented several initiatives to improve its operational and financial performance, including a focus on grade, mining efficiency and overbreak in both development and stoping areas within its operations.
That strategy appears to have paid off at Bluebird where the company achieved record production of 90,588 tonnes at 3.2g/t gold at the underground mine in the first quarter of the financial year. The figure increased again in the second quarter with the delivery of more than 110,000 tonnes at 3.47g/t gold.
Westgold also appears to have expansion plans after it launched a takeover bid earlier this week for neighbouring gold explorer Musgrave Minerals in a $177 million all-scrip off-market move. Management says its takeover bid for Musgrave offers the opportunity to build a larger-scale and more profitable WA gold producer that is dominant in the Murchison region.
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