Marda Gold Mine (North Yilgarn)
The Marda Gold Mine is located 130km north of the town of Southern Cross and 400km north-east of Perth. The project consists of a number of shallow unmined gold deposits.
Previous exploration of the deposits has been undertaken by several companies including Chevron (1980’s), Cyprus Gold, Gondwanna Resources and Savage Resources (1990’s). Southern Cross Goldfields (renamed as Black Oak Minerals 2014) carried out significant infill drilling in 2011 for resource estimation and a feasibility study.
Ramelius acquired the Marda gold project in February 2019. Additional drilling, studies and Mining Approvals were completed swiftly and the project commenced in late 2019.
Geology
Marda is hosted in the Archaean Marda-Diemals Greenstone Belt and comprises a series of discrete gold deposits within a highly deformed segment of the Marda BIF. Generally, the mineralisation trends WNW and occurs within boudinaged segments of the Marda BIF.
The deposits are characterised by quartz veining accompanied by silica, pyrite and sericite alteration. The structural context is dominated by isoclinal folds, low angle shears and late, high angle cross faults. Oxidation commonly extends to depths between 45m and 70m, reaching depths with weathering variable between the BIF and mafic country rock.
The project consists of four nearby pits (Dolly Pot, Dugite, Python and Goldstream) within the Central Marda area and two outlying pits, Golden Orb and King Brown, located 13 and 20km away respectively.
Marda Central Deposits – Looking East
The latest reported Ore Reserve at Marda stood at 680,000t @1.6 g/t for 34,000 oz (September 2023).
Mining & Processing
Mining at Marda central commenced in November 2019 at the Dugite Pit. Road train ore haulage at the operation commenced in March 2020.
Mining operations were completed in the December 2023 Quarter. Rehabilitation activities are currently being carried out in conjunction with ore haulage.
Dolly Pot pit – BIF hosted ore block
King Brown WRL rehabilitation