Macmahon Holdings has secured a 12-month contract extension with Black Cat Syndicate for underground mining services at the Majestic mine in Western Australia.
Awarded to Macmahon’s wholly owned subsidiary, Macmahon Underground, the extension follows the successful establishment of the underground portal and first ore delivery from Majestic to the Lakewood mill.
Under the expanded scope of works, Macmahon will continue providing underground development, production and associated mining support services at the operation.
Macmahon chief executive officer and managing director Michael Finnegan welcomed the extension of the company’s partnership with Black Cat.
“I congratulate the underground team and look forward to further delivering strong returns to our valued client,” Finnegan said.
The contract extension comes as Black Cat continues ramping up its Kal East gold operation, with the company recently achieving a milestone at Lakewood by processing ore entirely from its own mining operations at the Fingals open pit and Majestic underground mines.
Black Cat said Fingals and Majestic had continued to ramp up successfully, with 183,000 tonnes of ore stockpiled and available for processing through Lakewood.
According to the company, Lakewood’s throughput, recoveries and reagent usage have performed in line with or better than expectations during the transition phase.
Black Cat managing director James Bruce said the milestone highlighted the progress made across the operation.
“The successful ramp-up of the Fingals and Majestic mines within twelve months and within budget is a credit to the ‘can-do’ culture and experience of the Black Cat team,” Bruce said.
“The capital-efficient expansion of Lakewood will unlock further value from our Kal East operations for years to come. Securing sufficient contracted fuel is an important outcome at a time when uncertainty persists across Australian fuel supply networks.”
Black Cat also confirmed plans to invest $20 million of operating cashflow over the next 12 months to expand Lakewood’s processing capacity from 1.2 million tonnes per annum to 1.5Mtpa.
Despite the planned expansion, the company expects to continue building ore stockpiles to provide flexibility for processing higher-grade material through Lakewood as required.