Everest gets green light to mine Eastern Goldfields project

Everest Metals Corporation has received the green light to kickstart mining operations at its Mt Dimer Taipan gold and silver project, 150 kilometres northwest of Kalgoorlie.

The company is now fully permitted for mining activities at the site, after the WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration granted approval for its mining proposal and mine closure plan.

Based on an initial optimisation assessment, management believes the project is viable for a small-scale open-pit mining operation, based on Mt Dimer’s existing mineral resource of 722,000 tonnes grading 2.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 48,545 ounces. The project is bolstered by 89,011 ounces of contained silver at a 3.84g/t grade.

Everest plans to appoint experienced firms to launch into mining services at the site, truck its gold-bearing ore to a processing facility and undertake toll treatment at a third-party plant. The company says it is in advanced negotiations with potential partners, with a view to kicking off mining activities later this year.

We have now met a key project milestone in fast-tracking the Mt Dimer Taipan project, which has the potential to become a profitable mining operation in 2026, with approval to commence mining this year.

The company acquired the potentially lucrative project in 2020, in addition to an adjoining exploration tenement to the west of the project. A range of rotary air blast, reverse circulation and diamond drilling programs identified mineralisation at the project.

Everest plans to cut back the existing Taipan open pit to extract ore laterally and from the base of the pit. It expects to truck ore to a facility within the Kalgoorlie region and will move 125,000 bank cubic metres of waste to a designated waste dump onsite.

All mining activities will occur within the granted mining lease, primarily on ground previously subjected to disturbance from mining, using existing roads connecting with Coolgardie Road. This will minimise costs associated with kickstarting production at the site.

Everest intends to contract a small fleet of 55-tonne articulated dump trucks, which will be loaded by a 60-tonne excavator. If pre-stripping of surface material warrants larger trucks to hasten access to its paydirt, it may seek some 100t haul trucks.

Management says last mining at the site occurred in 1996, however, the pit walls have remained stable and require minimal stabilisation work.

Everest believes there is tremendous scope to add to the project’s gold and silver resource, which remains open to the south and down-dip.

A recent limited scout drilling program at Taipan confirmed mineralisation at its priority targets. A 360m, three-hole reverse circulation drill program tested two of four anomalous zones previously identified using high-resolution satellite imagery.

The first hole at Everest’s Anomaly A target in the northern part of the exploration licence returned 9m grading 0.33g/t gold from 13m, while a second hole within Anomaly A kicked-up 2m at 0.34g/t gold from 17m and a 3m slice going 0.32g/t gold from 92m.

Notably, a third hole punched into its anomaly B target, returned no gold, but did cough up a 20m nickel hit at 0.36 per cent, accompanied with 115 parts per million cobalt and 0.15 per cent chromium from 20m.

The broader Mt Dimer area remains underexplored and requires further work to test for extensions to its existing mineralisation and help unlock possible future resource growth.

Former site owner Taipan Resources mined the project in the mid-1990s, hauling out 84,000t at about 4.61g/t for 5933 ounces of gold. Several small players later leached the stockpiles for gold and silver, with moderate success.

Everest was recently granted membership of the United States Department of Defence’s (DoD) Defence Industrial Base Consortium, due to its prospective Mt Edon rubidium project in WA’s Mid West region.

Consortium membership will support Everest’s research to advance its high-grade Mt Edon rubidium processing technology as the company bids to become Australia’s first rubidium supplier. Rubidium is considered critical for its role in high-tech military applications.

With the price of gold and silver remaining strong and moves afoot with its other critical minerals projects, Everest may be about to successfully climb the resources mountain with its diverse mix of in-demand metals.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au