Larger Bluebird-South Junction a ‘game changer’ for Westgold
Gold mining company Westgold is rapidly building a mine of “significant scale and life” at Meekatharra, in Western Australia, says MD and CEO Wayne Bramwell, announcing a maiden ore reserve for the South Junction mine.
South Junction has an ore reserve of 2.6-million tonnes at 2.7 g/t gold for 226 000 oz. The mine forms part of the broader Bluebird-South Junction mining complex, which is becoming the primary ore source for the Bluebird processing hub, with a 1.2-million-tonne-a-year run rate targeted from the third quarter of the 2025 financial year.
“A larger, more productive Bluebird-South Junction underground mine is a game changer for our Murchison business. It will reduce the requirement and cost of road haulage of ore from Cue (about 140 km) as the Bluebird-South Junction complex is within 2 km of the nearby Bluebird mill,” says Bramwell.
In the South Junction area, the ore reserve will be exploited through a change in mining method from the centre-access retreat longhole open stoping currently employed in the Bluebird area of the mine, to a highly productive primary/secondary transverse stoping method with fill. This change in method will enable the production rates of Bluebird-South Junction to increase to more than triple the current rate of 30 000 t a month, to 100 000 t a month.
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