ASX-listed Pacgold announces that gold production and initial cash flow is imminent with cyanide irrigation now under way along the western wall of the heap leach pad at the recently acquired White Dam gold project, in South Australia, about 80 km west of Broken Hill.

About 250 000 t of original run-of-mine (RoM) ore on the first lift of the existing heap leach dump has been turned over and will be irrigated by mid-January.

The heap leach irrigation will use the recently relined and approved pregnant leach solution (PLS) pond and existing fully operational processing infrastructure on site.

The excavator will remain on site for the coming months and continue to focus on aeration of areas of the pad which have received less irrigation to date.

The initial leaching timeframe is expected to be about five to six weeks, with ore to be processed and sold as soon as possible, providing initial cash flow from the operation and funding for additional development and exploration activities throughout the company’s portfolio.

Results are expected to provide confidence in future recovery rates of gold remaining in pad.

“Commencing heap leach irrigation at White Dam is a major milestone for the company and marks the transition from project acquisition to gold production. We are all very keen to see how this first batch of material reacts to aeration and being turned over,” says MD Matthew Boyes.

“This exercise should be viewed as a large-scale metallurgical testwork programme, results of which we anticipate will demonstrate the potential to extract significant value from the 7.5-million tonnes of existing RoM ore on the leach pad over the coming months,” he explains.

“With cyanide irrigation now under way and up to 250 000 t of RoM ore expected to be under leach by mid-January, we are on track for imminent gold production and the generation of initial cash flow.

“This is a significant low cost and low-risk step in unlocking near-term value from White Dam and strengthening the company’s financial position in the current high gold price environment,” Boyes avers.