Source : THE AGE NEWS
Pacgold is lining up to take a second bite at the gold cherry in South Australia, preparing to re-crush material from the heap leach pad at its White Dam operation in a bid to unlock extra ounces and near-term cash flow.
New equipment is on the move as part of a plan to launch a heap leach re-crush campaign designed to liberate additional gold from previously processed material.
The Brisbane-based explorer-turned-developer says a Metso screening unit and an HP300 cone crusher, along with a radial stacker, are due to arrive shortly at the White Dam project, about 80 kilometres east of Broken Hill in the state’s mineral-rich Olary Province.
Once installed, Pacgold will use the circuit to re-crush the top lift of the existing heap leach pad – a well-known industry trick often used at gold operations to unlock gold left behind in coarser rock fragments after the initial processing cycle.
‘We are well-positioned to commence the re-crush of the heap leach pad’s top lift.’
Pacgold Limited managing director Matthew Boyes
Pacgold believes the move could deliver a relatively quick pathway to fresh production and revenue from the site.
Pacgold Limited managing director Matthew Boyes said: “With the ST 4.1 Metso screen and HP300 cone crusher scheduled to arrive at the White Dam site shortly, we are well-positioned to commence the re-crush of the heap leach pad’s top lift. Once running at full capacity, the circuit designed throughput is approximately 350tph we expect to reach the design throughput after a standard ramp up period.”
Heavy rain recently swept across the region, delivering about 100 millimetres of water to the site and temporarily restricting access to the mine, briefly halting refurbishment work on the carbon-in-column processing circuit and other infrastructure.
However, the company says the rainfall may ultimately prove beneficial by adding water to the heap leach pad and associated storage ponds, a key ingredient for gold recovery through leaching.
Pacgold is also waiting on assays from recent sampling across the top lift of the heap leach pad, along with LeachWELL test work designed to determine how much gold may still be recoverable.
Those results, expected shortly, should give the company a clear line of sight on potential gold production rates from the re-crush campaign across the 2026–27 period.
To improve confidence in the remaining resource on the pad, the company has also deployed a sonic drilling rig to undertake a test campaign across the heap leach facility. About 100 holes are planned to map the distribution of residual gold and identify zones most likely to yield additional recoveries.
White Dam represents a key asset for Pacgold as it transitions from explorer to producer. The project already hosts established open pits, a heap leach facility and a fully operational gold extraction plant, providing a relatively low-capital pathway to near-term cash flow.
The South Australian gold mining operation has a solid production pedigree. In a previous life, the mine processed a not-so-shabby 7.5 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 0.94 g/t gold, producing approximately 180,000 ounces from the Hannaford and Vertigo pits. The nearby White Dam North resource remains unmined, underscoring its credentials as a low-risk restart opportunity.
Today, White Dam still hosts a 4.6-million-tonne resource grading a solid 0.7 grams per tonne gold for 102,000 ounces. Importantly, this resource estimate excludes residual gold still sitting in the existing heap leach pads, which Pacgold believes represents a compelling near-term value opportunity.
Management is hopeful revenue from White Dam could ultimately help fund exploration at its broader portfolio, including the large Alice River intrusion-related gold system in North Queensland and the tantalising St George gold-antimony project.
If the re-crush campaign delivers as hoped, the modest South Australian operation could soon be turning yesterday’s tailings into tomorrow’s gold.
And with the yellow metal still hovering over US$5000 an ounce (over A$7000), even modest recoveries from the White Dam heap could quickly translate into meaningful cash flow.
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