The plant has a capacity of 30 tonnes per hour and can be scaled to a Gekko Python size plant for 250 tonnes per hour.

Classic will expect to achieve first gold recovery through the plant by August 2021 and chairmain John Lester said the achievement will allow Classic to continue its path towards becoming a mining company.

“This is yet another key milestone achieved by the management and operations team of Classic Minerals required to formally transform Classic from an explorer to a miner,” Lester said.

“We remain on track to construct and mine at full capacity by the end of July 2021 and we look forward to updating shareholders as additional milestones are reached.”

The wholly owned Kat Gap gold project has an inferred resource of 975,722 tonnes at a gold grade of 2.96 grams per tonne. This equates to 92,869 ounces of gold.

JT Metallurgical Services (JTMS) was responsible for the commissioning of the plant at Classic’s testing site in Gnangara, Western Australia.

JTMS helped to develop and operate the process for the plant’s trial and will continue to manage ore processing at Kat Gap.

In May, Classic Minerals received approval for a 21 year mining lease at Kat Gap by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.

Lester said the approval substantiated a lot of effort which had been applied to the Kat Gap project.

“A tremendous amount of work has been done by the whole team and we have an even larger task now ahead of us. The challenge will be to produce gold from Kat Gao and cement our place in the ranks of ‘gold producers’ in WA,” Lester said.