Dacian marches into 2021 with Mt Morgans expansion goal

The company delivered 27,162 ounces of gold during the December quarter despite a seven-day mill shutdown due to a safety incident.

This reduced mill throughput for the quarter and impacted recovered gold, but throughput rates returned to normal levels of 2.9 million tonnes a year after relining.

Dacian stated that despite the extended shutdown, the operations had performed well and was positioned favourably to maintain annual gold production in line with stated guidance of 110,000-120,000 ounces.

Dacian has produced nearly 60,000 ounces of gold during the financial year to date. The company sourced its ore from the Heffernans and Mt Marven open pits at Mt Morgans during the December quarter.

Dacian managing director Leigh Junk said the company was looking forward to incorporating the Redcliffe gold project into Mt Morgans to extend mine life and to diversify and bolster production.

The company announced its $96.4 million planned merger with NTM Gold in November and the transaction was expected to complete by March this year.

“The merger with NTM, if approved by NTM shareholders, will create an exciting portfolio of advanced exploration targets and low capital intensity development opportunities within trucking distance of our Mt Morgans treatment plant which continues to consistently perform well above it design capacity of 2.5 (million tonnes a year),” Dacian chairman Ian Cochrane said in November.

The Redcliffe project is within a 100-kilometre radius of the Mt Morgans gold operations.

The Mt Morgans operations comprise the Jupiter open pit mine that includes the Heffernans and Doublejay sub-pits.