Eridanus (Mt Magnet)
The Eridanus pit is located 6.5 kilometres west of the township of Mt Magnet and is 7.8 kilometres by haul road to the Checkers Mill. The resource lies between the historical Lone Pine open pit and the backfilled Theakston pit across the boundary of tenements M58/79 and M58/136.
The Eridanus deposit was discovered by Ramelius in late 2017 and mining of the Stage 1 pit commenced in mid-2019. With onging drilling and resource growth, it was decided to mine a larger 230m deep pit and the Stage 2 pit commenced in June 2020. The current pit design will be mined to a depth of 235m below surface and is scheduled to be completed in July 2024. Deeper RC drilling from within the pit was undertaken from December 2023 to March 2024 targeting high-grade stockwork veining beneath the current design.
Significant drilling and project development work was conducted during 2018 and 2019. The latest Ore Reserve stood at 180,000t @2.0 g/t for 12,000 oz (Refer 2 September 2024 ASX Release). The latest Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) stood at 21Mt at 1.7g/t for 1,200,000 ounces (Refer 2 September 2024 ASX Release), a 64% increase on the June 2023 MRE. This includes the adjacent Lone Pine and Theakston deposits and incorporates recent drilling and mining information. The increased Mineral Resource is positive for both open pit and underground options, which remain available beyond the current open pit, which itself is expected to produce ~300,000 ounces once completed and all stockpiles are processed.