Auric Mining study highlights potential $812M WA Goldfields revenue
Brought to you by BULLS AND BEARS
Murray Region
Auric Mining has submitted plans for the next path to new production, offering an intriguing integrated effort for the Munda and Burbanks gold assets in Western Australia’s Kalgoorlie gold fields. The study reveals a potential $812 million in revenue over five years from the recovery of 141,254 ounces of gold and a whopping $437 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
The company’s five-year plan includes open-pit mining of the company’s Munda gold deposit, and a detailed timeline has now been determined. Auric said 2027 will be a year of intense preparation dedicated to the construction and rebuilding of the Burbanks facility, as well as obtaining planning and government approvals.
Mining at Munda is planned to begin in December 2027, with ore transported 87 kilometers to Burbanks. Processing is scheduled to begin in April 2028, and the company plans to make its first gold sale in the same month.
The numbers highlighted in the integrated study look solid. Based on the current gold spot price of approximately AU$5,750 per ounce, the project shows a rapid capital payback of just 2.3 years.
The total sustainable cost of A$2,843 per ounce indicates a more than healthy margin compared to the study’s current gold price. Impressively, the study produced solid figures against the backdrop of recent industry-wide cost inflation for key inputs such as steel, fuel and labour.
The total financing requirement for the launch of the integrated operation is $145 million; This amount covers the reconstruction of the Burbanks facility, installation of the Munda open pit, and all pre-production and working capital costs.
‘… Shows the way to become an independent gold producer…’
Auric Mining managing director Mark English
Particularly with $37 million in cash in the bank, the company appears to have gotten off to a flying start on the equity component as it puts together a package to finance development.
Auric’s plan is to take control of his destiny. By rebuilding the Burbanks facility, the company is eliminating its reliance on third-party mills to process its ore in an area where processing capacity is already known to be limited.
The new-look Burbanks facility was originally designed with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons; It was the perfect size to process all the ore planned from Munda over a period of 56 months.
The company also has its sights set on a bigger prize by designing the plant to be easily scalable to 1.2 million tonnes per year. Auric’s strategy is to use the free cash flow generated in years two and three to expand the facility, positioning Burbanks as a potential future regional processing center that offsets the cost of its own growth.
The study’s mining plan calls for the extraction of 2.77 million tonnes of ore grading 1.75 grams per tonne solid gold (g/t) for 155,844 ounces from a large open pit at Munda. The plan is supported by the recent success of Auric’s Munda Starting Pit; Here the trial mining campaign not only generates cash flow, with all gold selling for an impressive average price of A$7,178 per ounce, but also provides invaluable, real-world data on the geology of the deposit, mining characteristics and recoveries met.
The company said the initial pit put the larger project at risk, with a significant average recovery of 89.5 percent from processing 126,000 tonnes of ore. This figure was applied conservatively to the new study.
Auric Mining managing director Mark English said:: “This work is another important step in Auric’s evolution. It shows a clear path to becoming an independent gold producer, with Munda providing the initial feed and Burbanks giving us control of a strategically important processing facility in the Goldfields.”
The Munda deposit currently has a JORC compliant resource of 4.3 million tonnes at 1.42 g/t gold for 194,000 oz and the deposit remains open along strike and at depth. Auric has nothing on its plate either, with its resource expansion drilling program starting this month.
While the study provides an intriguing and self-sustaining case for turning Munda and Burbanks into an integrated gold operation, management says it may just be an opening act. The company owns a significant 521 square kilometer rental housing package in the highly promising Eastern Goldfields, all within trucking distance of the proposed processing centre.
Auric appears to have a clear path to new production, having previously written a plan for paid production on the Jeffrey’s Find project. This new plan, which includes a scalable mill in a target-rich area, will be supported by an active exploration program already underway. For a youngster on the verge of stepping onto a new path to production, this work looks like the beginning of the next chapter for Auric Mining.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
