10 Westgold Resources Limited Annual Report 2023 Since commercial production was declared in FY22, the Big Bell mine (see Figure 4) has consistently produced above its designed capacity of 800900ktpa. In FY23, Big Bell continued to expand, producing 1.13Mt of high grade ore at 2.6g/t. Recent studies focused on expanding Big Bell to the zone beneath the pegmatites using an open stoping with paste fill mining method are well advanced. This zone is expected to extend the overall mine life of Big Bell to over 10 years whilst simultaneously increasing the mined grade. The Fender underground mine, which was paused in early FY23 will commence late in the first quarter of FY24 providing additional feed to the Meekatharra processing hub. This mine will operate as an extension to the Big Bell mine given its close proximity. In addition to the mining operations, the Company is accelerating exploration activities across Cue with the primary focus being the Day Dawn mining centre, consisting of Great Fingall and Golden Crown. This work has been based on new geophysical datasets and geological reinterpretations in early FY22, leading to the discovery of the OUR OPERATIONS REVIEW OF OPERATIONS (CONTINUED) TUCKABIANNA HYBRID POWER FACILITY IN OPERATION “ Westgold continues to innovate to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and drive our operating costs down.” Wayne Bramwell, Westgold Managing Director In July 2023, Westgold commissioned the first of four Hybrid Power Facilities at its Tuckabianna Process Plant. The new 17.9MW facility, replaces the existing diesel fired power station delivering a reduction of approximately 15kt of CO2 equivalent emissions and 10ML of annual diesel fuel consumption. The Tuckabianna Hybrid Power facility incorporates: – 6MW solar farm fitted with 11,088 photovoltaic panels (see Figure 6) – a battery energy storage system with 2.4MW installed capacity; and – a 9.5MW gas-fuelled power station. In addition to the now operational Tuckabianna facility, a further three new hybrid power facilities are being constructed across the Group at Bluebird, Fortnum and Big Bell. With a combined installed capacity of 82MW, all facilities are expected to be online and powering Westgold’s operations by Q3 FY24. Sovereign target, located between Great Fingall and Golden Crown. A program was also undertaken testing the Great Fingall reef at depth, which resulted in a significant re-interpretation (see Figure 5). As a result of this, the resource grew significantly in FY23 with the mine expected to commence development early in FY24, enabling production in the second half of FY25. The subsequent ramp up of Great Fingall establishes a Group gold production pathway to +300koz per annum. Figure 4 - Big Bell showing proposed development of Big Bell Deeps
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