Sandstone Project
The Sandstone Project is located 12km south of the township of Sandstone, ~520km northeast of Perth, and is accessed via a sealed highway between the mining towns of Mt Magnet and Leinster in the East Murchison Mineral Field of Western Australia.
The Sandstone Project comprises four granted Mining Licenses, including three at the Central Sandstone Project and one at the Birrigrin Project. The Central Sandstone Project also includes a non-operating 500,000tpa CIL processing plant, all associated infrastructure, operating licenses, permitted tailings storage facility and bore field, and camp facilities located on freehold title within the nearby town of Sandstone.
The Central Sandstone Project comprises an 881,300 ounce gold mineral resource and an expanding tenement footprint where the Company aims to support a gold mining operation in the future. Additionally, The Central Sandstone Project also has DSO iron ore potential that the company is looking to advance in parallel with the gold Resources. The company has identified a discontinuous 6km strike of banded iron outcrops, with potential widths of 5 to 40m and a peak grade of 67% Fe from rock chips.
History
In excess of 1Moz of gold has been produced from surface, open pit and underground operations in the Sandstone area since the 1890s. In addition to historical mining activities, more recent gold production is variously attributed to Herald Resources Limited in the 1990s and Troy Resources Limited (Troy) from 1999 to 2010. Troy extracted and processed a combined total of approximately 4.4Mt open pit of ore at an average grade of 3.6g/t Au for production of 508,000oz gold before the operation was placed on care and maintenance in September 2010. Middle Island Resources (Middle Island) acquired the Project in 2016 and explored the Project up until 2021. In December 2021, Aurumin entered into an agreement to acquire the Central Sandstone Project from Middle Island for $12 million in cash and shares.
Geology
Gold mineralisation is hosted within the Sandstone greenstone belt within the Southern Cross Province that forms the central spine of the Archaean Yilgarn Block. The Sandstone greenstone belt forms a classic ‘hourglass’ structure at the northern end of the Diemals Dome, where two major trans-current structures, the Edale and Youanmi faults, respectively confine the eastern and western margins of the belt.
Processing Plant & Infrastructure
The processing plant was constructed in 1994 with a capacity of 250,000tpa and upgraded to 500,000tpa facility by Troy in 1999. Troy operated the plant from 1999 to 2010, processing a total of 4.4Mt of ore to produce ~508,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 3.6g/t Au. The plant was placed on care and maintenance in September 2010 and has not operated since. A 57-person owner’s camp, a 36-person contractor’s camp, and an 8-person exploration camp and core farm are all located on freehold titles within the town of Sandstone, 12km north of the plant. Sandstone also has a well-maintained airport capable of servicing FIFO operations.
Current Gold Resource and Exploration Potential
The Sandstone Project currently has a resource of 18Mt @ 1.5g/t for 881koz Au, over both open pit and underground operations, all located on the granted mining leases. Aurumin is engaged in ongoing open pit resource definition, with Shillington and Two Mile Hill recently updated and nine other smaller resources to be reviewed.
Aurumin believes there is significant potential for the discovery of new deposits as well as extending the known Mineral Resources. The Company has developed a comprehensive exploration programme to assess the Sandstone Project.
High Grade Iron Ore Oportunity
Aurumin has discovered high-grade iron ore rock-chip assays returned with grades up to 67% Fe from a series of banded iron formations over a discontinuous strike > 6km, demonstrating potential for Direct Shipping Iron Ore (DSO) on the mining leases.
The High-grade iron is located proximal to the main sealed road currently used for hauling DSO iron ore and Aurumin sees potential for iron ore to provide complimentary synergies with the progressing gold project.
