27 Westgold Resources Limited Annual Report 2023 Cue Gold Operations (CGO) CGO is located around the regional town of Cue and encompasses Westgold’s southern-most group of Murchison assets. This package includes two of Australia’s most prolific past producers in the Big Bell mine (2.6 million ounces) and the Great Fingall mine (1.2 million ounces). The CGO processing hub incorporates the 1.4 Mtpa Tuckabianna processing plant, a 148-person village at Big Bell, a 266-person village at Cue and associated mining infrastructure to support mining operations. The Tuckabianna plant receives underground ore from the large Big Bell underground, with supplementary feed provided by lower grade surface stockpiles. Following the completion of ramp up and commencement of steady state production in April 2022, Big Bell has consistently delivered design levels, producing 1.1Mt of ore at 2.6g/t for 95koz contained ounces of gold in FY23. In addition to current Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, CGO has a number of development projects and exploration targets which should underwrite growth in gold production at the operations, including: – Great Fingall and Golden Crown – approved by the Board for development in August 2023; – Fender Mine – a shallow underground mine beneath Westgold’s Fender open pit expected to commence mining in October 2023; – Caustons – on the Tuckabianna trend, close to the mill and high potential for underground mining; – Additional shallow targets on the Big Bell line of lode beneath the 700, 1600 and the Shocker pits; and – Open pit and underground targets within the Cuddingwarra Mining centre. Bryah Operations The Bryah Operations are centred upon the Fortnum Gold Operation (FGO). FGO is located within the Proterozoic age Bryah Basin stratigraphy approximately 150 km northwest of Meekatharra and represents the northernmost group of Westgold assets. These assets encapsulate the historic mining centres of Labouchere, Fortnum, Horseshoe and Peak Hill which collectively has delivered approximately 2 million ounces of reported gold production. The FGO processing hub incorporates the 0.9 Mtpa Fortnum carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant, a 200-person village, airstrip and associated mining infrastructure required to support mining operations. Mining output is currently dominated by the Starlight underground mine with supplementary, free on surface low grade stockpiles providing a blended feedstock to the plant. Gold output in FY23 was 53,735 ounces at a C1 Cash Cost of $1,780 per ounce and an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $2,103 per ounce as disclosed in the table on page 28. The decrease in the gold output, though partially offset by the increase in the gold price, resulted in an overall decrease in revenue to $136,867,829 (2022: $158,218,086). Segment profits decreased to $7,820,360 (2022: $17,702,894). In addition to current Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, FGO has a number of exploration targets which should underwrite sustainable gold production at the operations beyond existing targets, including: – extensions to the Starlight underground mine; – open pit mining from the historic Yarlarweelor, Nathans and Labouchere mines; – the Regent and Messiah deposits; and – new targets within the proximate Peak Hill tenements.
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