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Murray Ward
Profitable, multi-asset gold producer Kaiser Reef, with operations on both sides of the Bass Strait, has fired up an underground diamond drill rig at its Union Hill gold mine in Victoria, kicking off a campaign to test the potential of one of Australia’s highest-grade historical goldfields.
The mine forms part of the company’s Maldon gold project, a district that has previously coughed up a remarkable 1.75 million ounces of gold at a stunning average grade of 28 grams per tonne (g/t).
Kaiser’s has moved the drill rig underground to complement an ongoing 4350-metre surface drilling campaign, a twin strategy the company says is critical to unlocking Maldon’s potential. Drilling from a recently prepared pad within the mine will provide the best access, positions and angles to target the multiple high-grade reef structures that characterise the goldfield.
The first phase of the program will target the Linscott’s and Eaglehawk lodes, with drilling of the Ladies reef to follow. Management says planning is already underway for additional targets, with exploration expected to continue on an ongoing basis subject to results.
‘Maldon represents a district-scale gold opportunity for Kaiser.’
Kaiser Reef managing director Brad Valiukas
The Maldon project is not just a patch of dirt with some impressive historical numbers. It comes with a fully permitted and operating 200,000-tonne-per-annum processing plant at Porcupine Flats, a permitted mining lease, and a refurbished decline capable of supporting future production.
The timing for dusting off a storied goldfield could hardly be better. The gold price has been on a tear, while a wave of mergers and acquisitions has swept through the Australian gold sector, with producers paying up for ounces and project pipelines that offer a clear path to production. With established players on the hunt for capital-efficient feed sources, projects with existing infrastructure are looking particularly attractive.
The project already features an inferred mineral resource at Union Hill of 1.31 million tonnes grading a solid 4.44g/t gold for 187,000 ounces. In addition, a surface stockpile holds a further 570,000 tonnes at 0.48g/t for a further 8600 ounces of contained gold.
Kaiser Reef managing director Brad Valiukas said:“Drilling from underground is crucial to the project,allowing Kaiser the access,drill positions and drilling angles required to optimally target the multiple reef structures at Maldon. With numerous historical mines and lines of workings that remain substantially underexplored, despite having historically produced an enviable 1.75Moz at 28g/t.”
The Victorian ounces contribute to a larger company-wide mineral resource of 5.42 million tonnes at 3.59g/t for 625,000 ounces of gold. With assets in two states, Kaiser has reaffirmed its production guidance for the 2027 financial year of 32,000 ounces of gold across its Maldon and Henty operations.
Notably, the engine room for the company’s ambitions lies at its second operation, the Henty gold mine in Tasmania. Henty is an established underground operation that makes Kaiser a profitable producer, churning out 5563 ounces of gold in the last quarter from its 300,000-tonne-per-annum processing plant.
The start of underground drilling is the latest in a string of savvy exploration moves at Maldon. In May, the company doubled throughput at its processing plant by moving to two shifts. A surface drilling campaign kicked off in June, followed by infill soil surveys in July and a close-spaced airborne magnetic survey in August, all designed to sharpen the company’s understanding of the project’s geology.
Maldon sits within Victoria’s famed Golden Triangle. This region has produced some of Australia’s most legendary gold mines, such as Agnico Eagle’s legendary 4.6-million-ounce Fosterville gold mine and has seen a resurgence of exploration interest from players including Southern Cross Gold and Catalyst Metals. Notwithstanding the field’s rich pedigree, Maldon itself has been largely overlooked by modern explorers.
With an operating plant, an existing decline and now the drill rods turning from underground into targets that once delivered bonanza grades, Kaiser Reef looks to be in prime position to write the next chapter for this historic goldfield.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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