Spartan Resources has received all necessary regulatory approvals to transition its Dalgaranga gold project (DGP) in Western Australia from development to full-scale underground mining. These approvals, granted by the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety and the Department of Water and Environment Regulation, enable the company to begin underground ore extraction and introduce new processing equipment at the existing plant.
Key elements of the approval include the installation and operation of a ball mill and pre-leach thickener, essential for processing the underground ores. Additionally, Spartan will establish a paste plant that will use recovered tailings to create paste-fill, which will support underground mining operations and optimize ore extraction on each mining level.
The approvals also cover the re-mining of tailings from the decommissioned Gilbey’s tailings storage facility (TSF), which will be used as feedstock for the paste plant. The Golden Wings in-pit TSF, with approximately 23 million cubic meters of remaining capacity, already holds pre-existing approvals, and the company is also authorized to dewater the unused low-grade Gilbey’s open pit.
Located 475 km north-east of Perth and 65 km north-west of Mt Magnet, the Dalgaranga Gold Project was initially commissioned in 2028 and has been on care and maintenance since November 2022. Prior to the suspension of operations for strategic planning and financial restructuring, the mine produced 71,153 ounces of gold in the 2022 financial year.
Spartan’s interim executive chair, Simon Lawson, commented, “All key parameters associated with the project are thoroughly understood and well managed, as we progress Dalgaranga towards an operational restart based on the still-growing high-grade underground Never Never and Pepper gold deposits.”
He added, “With these final approvals now in hand, we are excited to move ahead with the next phase of development at Dalgaranga and systematically advance toward production restart, which will also create new jobs and support local communities in Western Australia’s Murchison Region.”
In support of exploration at Dalgaranga, Spartan secured A$25 million ($16.18 million) in firm commitments from institutional investors last year.