Wiluna Mining Corporation could be gearing up to restart its gold operations in Western Australia after previously announcing its insolvency in 2022.
FTI Consulting, the administrators who took over Wiluna 2022, commissioned a pre-feasibility study (PFS) at the Wiluna gold mine aiming to determine its future validity.
The PFS projected a 9.5-year mine life with 5.53 million ounces of resources and 1.29 million ounces of reserves.
A restart at Wiluna is estimated to produce 750,000 tonnes of gold ore each year, producing an average of 67,500 ounces of gold per annum.
FTI Consulting Senior Managing Director Mike Ryan said the PFS demonstrated a potential pathway to return to the Wiluna operations to a viable footing.
“As has been demonstrated through multiple resource and reserve statements, Wiluna has a large amount of gold mineral and ore at healthy grades,” he said.
“The potential of the 5.24 million ounces of gold contained within Wiluna resources cannot be overlooked.
“Unfortunately, the previous operations at the Wiluna gold mine struggled with various operational and financial issues and were unable to properly pursue this potential.”
The next phase for the mine would prioritise sulphide material, supported by the existing operational carbon in leach circuit. These processing circuits would be fed initially by an open pit mine, later transitioning to underground mining.
Ryan said over $100 million has been invested in the rehabilitation and development of the mine to bring it to its current state.
“Our next step is to seek parties who are interested in Wiluna’s potential, as demonstrated by this PFS and the additional upside opportunities possible should larger amounts of capital be available and deployed,” he said.
The PFS found the company will need $73 million to get the project off the ground, which will go towards the establishment and upgrade of critical infrastructure.