A rebirth of open pit gold mining near Dunolly is closer to reality after the state government’s mining regulator approved a licence to GBM Gold.
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The company, which is partnering with Truelight Mining, plans to revive mining activity in the historic Harvest Home Goldfield.
In a quarterly statement to shareholders, the company, which bought the Kangaroo Flat mine in 2016, said it had received a mining licence from Earth Resources Regulation and was awaiting approval of a planning application from the Loddon Shire before activity could commence on the 316-hectare site.
Read more: Mining set to resume in Bendigo
GBM Gold and its partner plan to excavate 44,000 tonnes of ore, at an estimated grade of 2.46 grams of gold per tonne.
The company is yet to make a decision on the future of the Kangaroo Flat mine, but believes there is a large amount of unretrieved gold located in the coarse sand dam on the site.
GBM’s plans are part of a broader push to recover residual gold in the region.
A plan to recover gold from mine tailings near the Bendigo creek in Huntly was given conditional approval by the state’s mining regulator late last year.
ERR granted a mining licence to Eaglehawk-based company Twenty-Seventh Yeneb Pty Ltd for the 110 hectare site, however an environmental assessment of the work plan must be approved by ERR and other related agencies before works begin.
Twenty-Seventh Yeneb director David Wright said in principle, three million tonnes of tailings would be removed from a reserve adjoining the creek and processed for gold.
Tailings are the ore waste of historic mines and a number of tailing sites exist across the region due to its mining history.
Meanwhile, a mining company based at Fosterville last month said it was sitting on almost $3 billion in gold reserves.
More than 1.1 million ounces of gold – valued at $1.7 billion – was discovered by Kirkland Lake Gold last year, but the company has since re-estimated – claiming to have access to 1.7 million ounces of gold, worth $2.85 billion.
ERR and the Loddon Shire were contacted for comment.
*GBM Gold quarterly report
