Ramelius passes 100,000oz milestone at Wattle Dam

The landmark is being celebrated this week at the Wattle Dam mine - now an underground mining operation - 25 kilometres west of Kambalda.
The total output to date is split evenly between 50,000 ounces from the mine’s former open-cut operations, and a contribution of a further 50,000 ounces since Wattle Dam moved to an underground gold mining operation since the December 2009 quarter.
Ramelius expects to generate 20,000 ounces of gold production in the current June quarter as the mine continues to deliver high grade ore above the planned mine grade.
“The fact the new underground operations in something like six months have delivered the same output as several years of open-cut mining, is testimony to the decision to continue to extract Wattle Dam’s prodigious mineralisation by expanding underground,” Ramelius’ chief executive officer, Ian Gordon, said.
“The underground high grade ore has averaged around 30 grams per tonne in the first two quarters of production, making it the highest grade producing underground gold mine in Australia - and with ongoing exploration potentially adding further mining tonnages”.
“The upside remains strong - from a combination of future exploration nearby, ongoing infill drilling, ongoing development and stoping ore”.
Wattle Dam Gold commenced production in 2006 from an open pit - eventually producing a total of 34,500 ounces of gold - 2.5 times original open pit estimates.
The pit cut back alone resulted in a further 158,038 tonnes of ore being mined for 16,972 ounces of gold – or three times the quantity estimated to be extracted from this phase of the mine.
Work on developing the current underground mine commenced in May last year with the first high grade underground ore processed last November though Ramelius’ 100 per cent-owned Burbanks mill nearby at Coolgardie.
Exploration drilling at Wattle Dam is ongoing with a 30 hole underground diamond drilling program now underway.