Beta Hunt

The underground Beta Hunt Mine, located 600 km from Perth in Kambalda, Western Australia, is a deposit with the very rare feature of hosting both gold and nickel resources in adjacent discrete mineralised zones.

The mining tenements on which the Beta Hunt Mine is located are held by Gold Fields Limited. Westgold operates the Beta Hunt Mine by virtue of a sub-lease agreement with Gold Fields Limited.

HISTORY

The Kambalda mining district in Western Australia is a long-established major mining centre with excellent existing infrastructure, a skilled local workforce, and gold processing mills nearby.

Beta Hunt was originally developed and operated by Western Mining Corporation (WMC) in the 1970s and the mine was sold to Gold Fields in 2001. In 2003, Reliance Mining Limited (RML) acquired the nickel rights and resumed production.

Consolidated Minerals Limited acquired RML in 2005 and invested in both increasing resources and expanding production. The mine operated continuously until the end of 2008, when it was placed on care and maintenance due to the financial crisis and associated collapse in metal prices.

Transactions during the period 2001 - 2003 resulted in the separation of nickel rights from the gold rights. Salt Lake Mining subsequently acquired the property in 2013 and succeeded in re-combining the nickel and gold rights. Nickel operations were re-started in 2014.

Initial gold production occurred in June to July 2014 then ceased and recommenced at the end of 2015. The mine has been in continuous operation since then. Karora Resources acquired 100% of SLM in 2016 under its previous business name RNC Minerals. The main gold production areas are currently Western Flanks and A Zone.

EXPLORATION OPPORTUNITIES

The Beta Hunt land package includes significant exploration opportunities with the potential to substantially increase Mineral Resources and Reserves at Beta Hunt. There are numerous gold zones, including Western Flanks, A Zone, Larkin, East Alpha and the new Fletcher zone – providing significant potential for gold Mineral Resource expansion at low cost and near mine infrastructure.

Importantly, exploration and development at Beta Hunt has predominantly focused on the discrete nickel mineralisation – thus the package is vastly under-explored for gold. This results in an exciting opportunity for Westgold to deliver substantial growth in Resources whilst leveraging pre-established infrastructure.

GEOLOGY

Beta Hunt is situated within the central portion of the Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt in a sequence of mafic/ultramafic and felsic rocks on the southwest flank of the Kambalda Dome. Gold mineralisation occurs mainly in subvertical shear zones in the Lunnon Basalt and is characterised by shear and extensional quartz veining within a halo of biotite/pyrite alteration.

Within these shear zones, coarse gold sometimes occurs where the shear zones intersect iron-rich sulphidic metasediments in the Lunnon Basalt or nickel sulphides at the base of the Kambalda Komatiite (ultramafics).

Nickel mineralisation is hosted mainly by talc-carbonate and serpentine altered ultramafic rocks (Kambalda Komatiite) that overlie the Lunnon Basalt. The primary sulphide minerals are typically pyrrhotite > pentlandite > pyrite with trace chalcopyrite.

MINING

The Beta Hunt Mine is owner-operated using conventional underground mining methods. The mine is ramping production rates to 2Mtpa by the end of H1 FY25 with increased mined material transported through a newly constructed second decline.

MILLING

All gold processing is conducted at Westgold’s Higginsville and Lakewood mills.