WaltzingMatilda
Historical gold project with a sound future
Bryan Dixon
Managing Director
Blackham Resources Ltd
It has been an exciting 12 months for Blackham
Resources with a steady stream of exploration
success, resource upgrades, positive mining
studies and a significant funding deal for its
Matilda gold project.
With most of the boxes ticked to commence
development of its Matilda project, the
transformation of Blackham Resources from
explorer to developer will be overseen by
mining veteran Joseph Gutnick who took on
the Chairmanship at Blackham as part of a
$13 million funding deal with private company
Great Central Gold announced in February
2013.
It is a deal that captured the investment
community’s attention, and put the company on
a path to unlocking the true value of Matilda.
The Matilda project contains three main
resource centres – the historic Matilda and
Williamson mines and the Regent deposit in the
Wiluna greenstone belt of Western Australia.
The Matilda mine has significant infrastructure
and haul roads, ore and waste pads and tailings
dams already in place. Williamson and Regent
are both within 10 kilometres of the Matilda
mine plant site and infrastructure.
Since acquisition in late 2011, Blackham has
increased the resource at the Matilda project
by almost 400%. The JORC-compliant resource
at the Matilda gold project now stands at 25
million tonnes (Mt) @ 1.9g/t gold for 1.5 million
ounces. Blackham’s management team remain
confident they can double the resource from
here with the initial resource growth achieved
with very limited expenditure.
So far, Blackham has concentrated
exploration in the ‘shadow of the headframe’
at Matilda to expand its resource base. This
has generated some fantastic results such as
35
metres @ 5.05g/t (including 12 metres
@ 9
g/t) at the M1 central lode.
The company is also preparing to commence
its maiden program at the Williamson mine.
Blackham recently announced a review of
development options at Williamson following
an upgraded resource of 6.3Mt @ 1.7g/t gold
for 350,000 ounces, of which 43% is in the
indicated category.
Preliminary mining optimisations show
the economics around an open pit based on
a $1,240 per ounce gold price giving strong
returns. A low stripping ratio of 6:1 on the cut
back is achievable due to the deposit being 30
to 40 metres wide. The mining optimisation
demonstrates the near-term development
opportunity at Williamson, where 74% of the
ounces within the pit are currently in the
indicated resource category allowing for quick
conversion to reserves.
Blackham’s management team sees the
potential for Williamson to host a number
of deposits and the possibility for it to turn
into a mining centre, similar to the 6 million
ounce mining centre located 19 kilometres to
the north.
The company is also turning its attention to
the 690 square kilometres land package with
large areas that have not been actively explored
for nearly 20 years. It is hard to imagine a
mineral field in Western Australia’s goldfields
with an endowment of over 8 million ounces
sitting idle for such a long period of time. This
is the opportunity recognised by Blackham
which is poised to take advantage of new
ideas and new technologies to find the next
generation of deposits and breathe new life into
the Wiluna goldfield.
The township of Wiluna has many
advantages as an exploration base including
regular air services, freight, accommodation
and earth moving contractors which make
operating in this remote region relatively easy.
Blackham has demonstrated its commitment
to the local community by proudly sponsoring
the Murlpirrmarra Connection, a Wiluna-based
organisation devoted to engaging Indigenous
youth in education, health and sport.
There are certainly exciting times ahead for
Blackham and its shareholders.
Managing Director, Bryan Dixon stated
“
We are delighted to have the support of
investors of the calibre of Joseph Gutnick
and an endorsement of the quality of the
Matilda project.
“
We look forward to the next 12 months
as we begin to unlock the true value of the
project,” he concluded.
Visible gold in core from
the Williamson mine
Drilling at the Matilda M1 pit
Minesite 2013
•
107